ON GRAFTING. 203 



pose the junction does not take place, each branch re- 

 mains uninjured and grows separately, so that nothing is 

 lost. 



Mrs. B. It is a good mode, also, for common plants, 

 being so easy and rapid in its results. 



Caroline. And might not in a similar manner several 

 stems be united to a single head ? 



Mrs. B. Yes ; if a circle of stems of young poplars 

 be bent and united in a centre, they will form but one 

 head, which, nourished by the surrounding stems, will 

 grow to an enormous size. 



Some trees graft themselves spontaneously. If two 

 branches of hornbean happen to grow so close together 

 as to rub against each other when moved by the wind, 

 the outer bark will be worn away by the friction, and the 

 vessels of the two libers will come in contact, which is 

 sufficient to produce a graft. The mere act of two branch- 

 es growing contiguous, when confined for space, will 

 wound the bark ; and, indeed, by whatever chance the 

 vessels of two branches are brought together, in such a 

 manner that the sap can flow from the one into the other, 

 a graft takes place. 



Emily. You sometimes see a young tree growing from 

 the trunk of an old one of a different kind : is this the 

 result of a natural graft ? 



Mrs. B. No ; it is that of a seed which has sown it- 

 self, or of a slip which has planted itself in the hollow of 

 a decayed tree, the rotten wood producing a soil which 

 consists wholly of* the richest nourishment. I have seen 

 a fine young cherry-tree grow out of the hollow trunk of 

 an oak, and a vine spring from the old stump of a willow- 



Emily. You sometimes see two leaves and two flow- 

 ers cohering together : is not this owing to a natural graft? 



Mrs. B. Yes ; this species of grafting extends also to 

 fruits : the double cherry is thus grafted. 



Caroline. Pray, are roots susceptible of being thus 

 grafted ? 



1116. For what plants is this mode particularly adapted 1 ? 1117. 

 How is it said that several stems might be united to a single head 1 ? 

 1118. What instances of spontaneous grafting is named! 1119. When 

 a young tree is seen growing from the trunk of an old one of a different kind, 

 how is it produced! 1120. What instances of this have been seen 1 ? 

 1121. What other cases of this mode of grafting are mentioned! 



