88 



PRACTICAL BOTANY 



progress. As the top of the seedling is cut off not far above 

 the bud, all further growth of the shoot partakes of the 

 quality of the bud ; and the fruit borne by the tree, when it 

 is large enough to bear, will be of the kind characteristic of 

 the tree from which the bud was taken. 



Grafting is removing a piece of stem 

 with its buds from one plant and inserting 

 it into a portion of stem of another living 

 plant so that the cambium layer of each 

 will be in contact with that of the other 

 (Fig. 71). The plant into which the stem 

 is inserted is called the stock, and the por- 

 tion of shoot which is set into the stock is 

 called the scion or graft. There are many 

 kinds of woody plants which may readily 

 be grafted, but the process is of practical 

 importance mainly for the grower of apples 

 and pears. Various plans are adopted in 

 different fruit-growing regions. One of the 

 commonest methods for the propagation of 

 apples is root grafting. Seedling trees a 

 year old are dug in the autumn and the 

 roots grafted with one-year-old scions of 

 desired varieties of apples, each cut to the 

 length of about six inches. The grafted 

 roots, wound about the joined surfaces with 

 waxed cord, are packed in sand in a cool 

 and not too dry cellar and left until spring. 

 By that time the cambium layers of root 

 and scion have united .and the roots are 

 ready to plant. Tongue grafting is practiced either with young 

 seedlings or with twigs of larger trees (Fig. 71) in the spring. 

 Top grafting consists in cutting off limbs one or two inches in 

 diameter, splitting the portion remaining attached to the tree 

 for a short distance, and inserting at each part of the split, 

 where it crosses the cut surface, a small scion, and then 



FIG. 71. Grafting 



At the left scion and 

 stock are shown ready 

 to be united; at the 

 right they are joined 

 and ready to cover 

 with grafting wax. 

 After Percival 



