no 



GRAFTAGE. 



104. 



heat or rot. Some of the characteristics of root-grafted trees 

 are discussed in the last part of this 

 chapter. 



In common root-grafting in the east 

 and south, the cion bears about three 

 buds, and the root is about the same 

 length, or perhaps shorter. The va- 

 riable and unknown character of these 

 roots as, regards hardiness, renders it 

 important that, in very severe climates, roots 

 should be obtained from the same plant as the 

 cion, the hardiness of which is known. It is, 

 therefore, the practice in the prairie states to use 

 a very long cion 8 inches to a foot and to set 

 it in the ground up to the top bud. The piece of 

 root serves as a temporary support, and roots are 

 emitted along the cion. When the 

 tree is ready for sale the old piece 

 of root is often removed, or some- 

 times it falls away of itself. In 

 this manner own-rooted trees are 

 obtained, and it is for this reason 

 that root-grafting is more univer- 

 sally practiced west of the Great Lakes 

 than budding is. Even cions of ordi- 

 nary length often emit roots, as seen 

 in Fig. 104, but such cions are not long 

 enough to reach into uniformly moist 

 soil. In practice, some varieties of 

 fruit trees are found to emit roots from 

 the cion more readily than others. 

 Root-grafting is often cheaper than 

 budding, as it is performed when labor 

 is cheap, and two or more trees are 

 made from one stock. 



Cuttings may be used as stocks 

 Growing root-graft (x^)- in those instances in which a variety 



