202 



PLANT PROPAGATION 



willing to pay. No systematic attempts have been made 

 to settle the controversy. 



The mazzard or wild sweet cherry (Primus avium), 

 used for centuries as a stock, grows 30 to 40 feet tall with 

 trunks often 18 inches in diameter. In America it is 

 tender to cold, but grows vigorously. Its seedlings, im- 

 ported from France, are badly attacked in nurseries by 

 fungi, but it produces uniform trees and fruit. 



Mahaleb (Prunus mahaleb) is a thick, slender-branched 

 bush with inedible fruits, differing markedly from both 

 sweet and sour cherries. The wood structure "one 



FIG. 168 THREE UNUSUAL STYLES OF GRAFTING 



A, bow grafting of vine; a, cion; b, ligature to increase pressure of cion to 

 stock; c, tightly wound ligature to check sap flow; d, e, slits for insertion of 

 cion. B, saddle graft; f, stock; g, cion; h, parts fitted together; C, veneer graft; 

 i, stock; j, cion; k, parts fitted and tied; 1, graft after union. 



would expect to differ very materially" from that of 

 sweet and sour cherries so that even if the union proved 

 normal there would be difficulty in the passage of solu- 

 tions between stock and cion. This cherry is propagated 

 almost- wholly from seed, though it may easily be grown 

 from layers, cuttings and suckers. The American supply 

 comes from France. Mahaleb seems to have been used 

 in the United States since about 1850, first as a dwarfing 



