GRA 



G R A 



of the Stock, great care must be taken to join the 

 rind of the scion exactly to that of the stock ; for, 

 if, these do not unite, the grafts will not succeed: 

 when this method of grafting is used to stocks 

 that are not strong, it will be proper to make a 

 ligature of bass, to prevent the slit of the stock 

 from opening; after which the whole should be 

 clayed over, to prevent the air from penetrating 

 the slit, so as to destroy the grafts, only leaving 

 two eyes of the scions above the clay for shoot- 

 ing. It is usually performed about the begin- 

 ning of March. 



II' hip- or tongue- grafting is the most ge- 

 nerally practised by nursery -men, especially 

 for small stocks, or branches of an inch, half an 

 inch, or less, as the scions much sooner cover 

 the stocks in this method than in the others. 

 It is performed by cutting off the head of the 

 stocks sloping ; then making a notch in the 

 slope towards the upper part downward, a little 

 more than half an inch deep, to receive the 

 scion, which must be cut with the slope upward, 

 and a slit made in this slope like a tongue, which 

 tongue must be inserted into the slit made in 

 the slope of the stock, and the scion be placed 

 on one. side of the stock, so as that the two 

 rinds of both scion and stock may be equal and 

 join together exactly ; after which there should 

 be a ligature of bass put round to fasten the 

 scion, so as that it may not be easily displaced, 

 the whole being afterwards clayed over as in the 

 former methods. It may be performed in the 

 early spring months. 



Grafting ly approach, inarch-grafting, or 

 ablactation, is performed when the stocks that 

 are designed to be grafted, and the tree from 

 which the graft is to be taken, stand so near to- 

 gether as that their branches may be bent and 

 united. It is commonly practised on tender 

 exotic plants, and some other sorts which do 

 not succeed in any of the other methods. In 

 performing the work, a part of the stock or 

 branch is slit off about two inches in length, a 

 smooth part of the stock being always chosen 

 for the purpose; then a small notch made in 

 tins slit of the stock downward, in the same 

 manner as directed for whip-grafting; the 

 branch of the tree designed to be inarched 

 having a part slit oft" in the same manner as the 

 stock, and a slit made upward in it, so as to 

 leave a tongue, which tongue should be inserted 

 into the slit of the stock, joining their rinds 

 equally, that they may unite well together; 

 after which a ligature of bass should be made 

 so as to keep them exactly in their situation, and 

 afterwards this part of 'the stock clayed over 

 well, to keep out the air. In this method of 

 grafting, the scion is not separated from the tree 



until it is •firmly united with the stock, nor is 

 the head of the stock or branch, which is graft- 

 ed, cut off till the same time, and only half the 

 wood pared off with a slope, about three inches 

 in length, and the same of the scion or graft. 

 In this method of grafting, the operation is not 

 performed so early in the season as the others; it 

 being done in the month of April, when the sap 

 is flowing, at which time the scion and stock will 

 join together, and unite much sooner than at 

 any other season or period of the year. It is 

 principally employed in raising jasmines, 

 oranges, and other exotic trees of the harder 

 kinds. 



It has been found that the walnut, fig; and 

 mulberry will take by this method of grafting, 

 while neither of them succeed in any of the 

 other modes. Several sorts of evergreens may 

 likewise be propagated by this method of graft- 

 ing ; but all the trees that are grafted in this way 

 are weaker, and never grow to the size of those 

 which are grafted in the other methods; there- 

 fore it is rarely practised, except on such sorts 

 of trees as will not take by the other methods of 

 performing the operation. 



Root-grafting, which is a late improved 

 mode, is performed by cutting the clean smooth 

 roots of the stocks in pieces five or six inches 

 long, and as large or a little larger than the 

 graft ; then they are whip-grafted, and tied to- 

 gether very close, so as to prevent the wet from 

 affecting the wounded parts, planting them so 

 deep as that the graft, which should be four or 

 five inches long, may be about half buried. In this 

 way the grafts themselves will root, and a nearer 

 similitude be preserved to the tree whence the 

 grafts are taken ; and after two or three years 

 the stock may be cut quite away, and the graft 

 left to maintain itself. In practising this me- 

 thod the grafts should be an inch or two longer 

 than in the others. 



The period or season for grafting should al- 

 ways be regulated by the state of the weather. 

 From the climate being so uncertain in the 

 spring, it is better to deter it till the circulation 

 of the sap is brisk, and the buds of the stocks 

 begin to break into leaves, attention being 

 had that the weak shoots of tender trees will not 

 admit of being so long cut as the more hardy, 

 and that the operation should never be perform- 

 ed while it actually freezes or rains. 



Proper grafts. — In providing these, care 

 should be taken that they are shoots of the 

 former year, as when they are older they never 

 succeed well ; that they be always taken from 

 healthy fruitful trees, as, when the trees are 

 sickly from whence they are taken, the grafts 

 often partake so much of the distemper as not 



