CHAPTER V. 



Methods of Propagation. 



GRAFTING. 



" And thorns ennobled now to bear a plumb." 



Addtson's translation of Virgil's 

 "Fourth Georgia." 



T appears from the above quotation that graft- 

 ing was practised in Virgil's time, and this 

 method of propagation is still employed in 

 nurseries, chiefly for raising fruit trees and 

 .certain ornamental trees out-of-doors, and also 

 under glass, for roses grown in pots. 

 REASONS FOR GRAFTING. Grafting is employed 

 when, for one reason or another, neither seedlings, 

 cuttings, nor layers can be relied upon. 



The seedlings of certain plants, e.g., apple, pear 

 and plum, are usually quite unlike and much inferior 

 to the parents ; over 90 per cent, of such seedlings 

 will produce fruits which are practically worthless, 

 and the majority will not produce any fruit at all 

 for the first ten or possibly twenty years of their 

 growth. 



Propagating by cuttings or by layering is useless 

 when plants do not grow vigorously on their own 

 roots. 



Experience has shown that the stocks which are 

 used for grafting will exercise a certain influence 

 on the growth of the grafted tree, e.g., dwarf trees 

 may be produced by grafting apples on " paradise " 

 stocks, pears on quince stocks, etc., whereas, apples 



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