106 PRACTICAL PLANT PROPAGATION 



cion, which consequently is less injured by adverse Winter condi- 

 tions. Similarly, the Peach does better on Plum in cold soils. 



4. Correcting poor habit. Canada Red Apples, which are notably 

 poorly shaped trees, are improved by top working (see page 132) 

 upon some good grower. 



5. Provides rapid method of testing seedlings. Grafting often 

 hastens fruiting and flowering. Seedlings which require a long time 

 to attain the age for flowering or fruiting are frequently budded or 

 grafted upon a mature tree. (See Inarching, p. 125.) This method 

 saves years of waiting for, perhaps, an inferior fruit. With the Pear 

 it often takes eight to ten years before a seedling will bear fruit; 

 but by budding, Pears may be produced in two years. Even the 

 bud from a seedling, therefore, becomes a part of the tree and the 

 vigorous growth of its first year may be expected to produce flower 

 and fruit buds. Furthermore, it is known that cions from young 

 trees bear fruit more readily when inserted in old trees, than when 

 set in young ones. In France this system, by which a great number 

 of excellent Pear varieties has been introduced, has been commonly 

 practiced. There is keen pleasure in hybridizing fruits, raising 

 the seedlings and awaiting the results of the labor. 



6. Modifying season of ripening of fruit. Grafting will often 

 alter the fruit ripening season by causing a difference in the time of 

 maturity of wood of stock and cion. Pears of the variety Winter 

 Nelis keep better when grafted on Bloodgood stock than when grown 

 on Flemish Beauty. Twenty Ounce Apples ripen earlier than 

 normally when grafted on Early Harvest. 



7. Increasing fruitfulness. The increase in fruitfulness of some 

 varieties may be due to better adaptation to climatic and soil con- 

 ditions. Many instances of increase in fruitfulness, by grafting, 

 can be given. A less vigorous stock, by checking excess growth, 

 often causes fruitfulness. 



8. Delaying the running out of varieties. Grafting, rather than 

 growing plants from cuttings, seems to delay the degeneration of 

 varieties of certain Camellias and Roses. 



9. Increasing size of fruit. Certain Pears when grown on the 

 Quince are much increased in size. This is analogous to the effects 

 of ringing a branch, the food manufactured by the leaves is kept in 

 the branches instead of going to the roots. 



10. Modifying color. Grafting causes a change in the color of 

 flower, foliage and fruit, but many cases of apparent difference are 

 due to environmental influences rather than grafting. Prunus 

 Pissardii shows a deeper colored foliage, when grafted on P. amer- 



