OF FRUIT TREES. 39 



the whole is to be covered over with the composition. 

 When the stocks to be grafted upon are from one to 

 two or more inches in diameter, as branches of trees, 

 cleft-grafting is generally employed. The head of the 

 stock or branch being carefully cut off in a sloping 

 direction, a perpendicular cleft or slit is to be made, 

 about to two inches deep, with a knife or chisel, to- 

 wards the back of the slope, into which a wedge is to 

 be driven, in order to keep it open for the admission 

 of the scion. The latter must now be cut in a per- 

 pendicular direction, and in the form of a wedge, so 

 as to fit the incision in the stock. As soon as it is 

 prepared, it should be placed in the cleft in such 

 manner that the inner bark of both the stock and scion 

 may meet exactly together. It is then to be tied 

 with a ligature of bass, and clayed over, as is practis- 

 ed in whip-grafting, three or four eyes being left in 

 the scion uncovered. It should be observed, that in 

 making the cleft in the stock, care should be taken 

 not to injure the pith, the scions being inserted in the 

 sap wood of the stock or branch. Old stocks may be 

 grafted in the bark, called crown-grafting, but this can- 

 not be practised successfully till the sap be in full mo- 

 tion, that the bark may be easily raised from the wood. 

 The head of the stock or thick branch is cut off hori- 

 zontally ; a perpendicular slit is made in the bark, as 

 in budding ; a narrow ivory folder is thrust down be- 

 tween the wood and the bark, in the places where 

 the grafts are to be inserted. The graft is cut, at the 

 distance of an inch and a half from its extremity, cir- 

 cularly through the bark, not deeper than the bark on 

 one side, but fully half way through or beyond the 

 pith on the other. The grafts being pointed, and a 

 shoulder left to rest on the bark of the stock, they are 

 inserted into the openings, and either three or four 

 grafts are employed, according to the size of the 

 crown. Side-grafting is sometimes employed for sup- 



