V 



V 

 ( 



128 



GRAFTAGE. 



In time, 



decay unless it is well protected from the weather. 



the old stub becomes her- 

 metically sealed by the re- 



parative tissue. Fig. 133 



shows a section of an 



apple graft nearly fifty 



years old. The original 



stub, about an inch in 



diameter, is seen in the center, 



the end of it entirely free from 



the enclosing tissue. It is a dead 



piece of wood, a foreign body pre- 

 served in the heart of the tree. The 



depth of the old cleft or split is traced 



in the heavily shaded portion. When 



this section was made, the cores of the 



old cions were still found in the cleft 



and the grafting-wax faithfully laid 



on a half century ago still adhered to 



the end of the stub, underneath the 

 mass of tis- 

 sue which 

 had piled it- 

 self over the 



old wound. 



132. The stub 131 split 



Cleft-grafting through the cleft, and seen 

 from the opposite side. 



is put to vari- 



ous other uses than the top- grafting 

 of old trees. It is in common use 

 on soft and fleshy stocks, as cactuses, 

 and various fleshy roots. Fig. 134 shows 

 a cleft-graft on cactus. The cion 

 is held in place with a pin or 

 cactus spine, and it is then bound 

 with raffia or other cord. Wax- 

 ing is not necessary. A similar 

 graft is often made on peony roots. The cleft in the thick 



'33 Section of an old cleft- 

 graft on an apple tree 



