ON GRAFTING. 201 



borne fruit, it will blossom and produce fruit sometimes 

 as early as the second or third year. 



Caroline. Yet grafting cannot increase the age or 

 strength of the seedling-tree ? 



Mrs. B. No ; but the buds on the graft have attained 

 a state of vigor and perfection which enables them to 

 produce seed ; and the seedling-tree may be considered 

 merely as the channel by means of which nourishment is 

 conveyed to them, until age has given it sufficient vigor 

 to produce fruit-buds of its. own. Grafting increases the 

 size of fruits at the expense of the seeds : the rose acacia, 

 when not grafted, bears seeds ; when grafted, it bears 

 none, but its blossom is much finer. 



Grafting sometimes produces a change of flavor, and 

 generally retards vegetation : it is often employed as a 

 means to retard that of trees, which bud so early in the 

 spring as to be in danger of suffering from the frost. The 

 walnut, for instance, buds a full fortnight later when 

 grafted on walnut. i 



In regard to the mechanical part of the process, care 

 must be taken to fasten the graft to the tree with soft lig- 

 atures, and in such a manner that the vessels of the [re- 

 spective barks may come into contact ; then, in order to 

 prevent the extravasation of cambium, the wound must 

 be well covered over with a ball, which is generally made 

 of cow-dung and stiff clay. The composition which M. 

 De Candolle recommends for this purpose consists of 

 one pound of cow-dung, half a pound of pitch, and half 

 a pound of yellow wax. 



The season for grafting is either in the spring during 

 the ascent of the sap, or in the autumn for the sap of the 

 following spring. 



Caroline. But does not the sap rise constantly 

 throughout the summer ? 



Mrs. B. For the purposes of general vegetation it 

 does ; but you must recollect that all germs and buds, 

 are fed by sap, elaborated by vessels appropriated exclu- 

 sively for that purpose ; advantage must therefore be 



1104. Why is this gain! 1105. How is the size of the fruit, and 

 how are the seeds affected by grafting? 1106. What is said of the 

 effect it has on the period of vegetation! 1107. In regard to the me- 

 chanical part of grafting what is saidl 1108. At what season should 

 it be done! 1109. Why may it not be done in summer! 



