68 MEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 



shoot which is to form the summit of the new individual is 

 called the Scion ; the stem to which it is affixed is called the 

 Stock ; and the operation, when effected, the Graft. As the 

 graft is merely an extension of the parent plant from which 

 the scion came, and not, properly speaking, a new individual; 

 so it is found to be the best method of propagating approved 

 varieties of fruit-trees without any danger of altering the 

 quality of the fruit. Scions for grafting should be selected 

 in July or August, and heeled in in a shady place till required. 

 In selecting these make choice only of those varieties which 

 have been proved by experience to be well adapted to the 

 locality. There are many varieties both of apples and pears 

 which do admirably in one locality but are comparatively 

 worthless in others. (Where there has been no previous 

 planting of course this precaution cannot be adopted.) The 

 principal points to attend to in the process of grafting are, 

 first whatever be the plan to use sharp knives, make the 

 joints fit close, tie them firmly, but not too tight ; let the 

 barks of the scion and stock always be close on one side r 

 whatever be the state of the other, for on that depends 

 everything ; cover the graft, when tied, with proper grafting 

 clay, which will keep the air from the join until it is united. 

 This grafting clay is made adhesive by mixing, according 

 to its stiffness, with a quantity of new cow manure, beating 

 them together ; for if it were not tempered with the cow 

 manure it would bake hard on the trees, and crack, and 

 fall off in the dry weather. Some use grafting wax, formed 

 of resin and beeswax, in equal parts, and tempered with 

 tallow, a small portion of which will reduce it so as to be 

 laid on while warm with a brush, and cool sufficiently to coat 

 over the join properly, as a body to resist the wet and the 

 air. But upon the whole the clay is preferable, as it retains 

 moisture. One particular point should always be attended 

 to in grafting. The stock should, at its highest point, have 

 a bud, because nothing is more common than stocks dying 

 down to the first joint, so that a graft would, in such case, 

 be lost ; because if the stock died back to the first eye, and 

 the graft were above it, however well it may be done, it must 

 fail ; whereas the eye or joint being at the very top of the 

 stock secures it. The different methods of grafting are 

 known as whip grafting, cleft grafting, saddle grafting, crown 

 grafting, and shoulder grafting. 



