GRAPTAGE 



GRAFT AGE 



661 



deep in the soil. All these instances seem to be special 

 cases, or exceptions to the general rule that each part 

 maintains its individuality. Reasons for this change of 

 nature in these cases have not been determined, and in 

 most cases such results are not to be predicted. The 

 most marked effect of stock on the cion is a dwarfing in- 

 fluence. Dwarfing may be expected whenever the stock 

 is of a smaller stature than the cion. The most familiar 

 example is the dwarf pear, made by working the pear on 

 quince stock. Supplying a plant" with a slow-growing 

 root is only the beginning of the making of a dwarf. 

 The plant rmist be kept dwarf by subsequent pruning 

 and other care. It is significant that there is compara- 

 tively little demand for large-growing forms of woody 

 plants, whereas there is a great demand for dwarf 

 forms. 



Extended experiments on plants which are not com- 

 monly grafted have thrown considerable light on the 

 possible mutual influences of cion and stock. The re- 

 searches of Daniel (whose latest contribution comprises 

 nearly all of vol. 8 of Ann. Sci. Nat. Ser. 8, Botany, 

 1898) show that the stock may have, a specific influence 

 on the cion, and that the resulting characters may be 

 hereditary in seedlings. These experiments, as also 

 those of Vochting, have thrown much light on the physi- 

 ology of grafting and the variation induced by it, but 

 they will not modify the practices of horticulturists nor 

 greatly change our ideas respecting the results to be 

 obtained from accustomed operations. Experience has 



932. Shield-bud- 

 ing (X y z ). 



933. The bud 

 set in the ma- 

 trix (X %). 



934. The bud 

 tied. 



long since determined what general and practical re- 

 sults are to be expected from grafting. 



The limits within which grafting can succeed are to 

 be determined only by experiment. These limits are 

 often within the species, and usually within the genus, 

 but there are instances in which plants of distinct 

 genera intergraft with success, as in some of the 

 cacti. But generic and graftage limits are not compar- 

 able: genera are only arbitrary divisions proposed for 

 purposes of classification, and intergrafting, like inter- 

 crossing, has no necessary relation to these conception 3. 

 In general, the closer the affinity of cion and stock, the 

 better the union. When stock of the same species can- 

 not be secured, it is allowable to choose another species. 

 Thus it has been impossible to secure Japanese plum 

 stocks upon which to grow the varieties of Japanese 

 plums, and peach, Marianna, myrobalan and domestica 

 plum stocks have been used. In some cases another 

 species grows more readily from seed, is cheaper, is less 

 liable to fungous injury in the nursery, or has some 

 other practical advantage. Thus, most domestica plums 

 (Prumis domestica) in the North are worked on the 

 myrobalan (P. cerasifera) ; most sweet and sour cherries 



935. Budding knife (X 



Prunus Avium and P. Cerasus) are worked on the 

 Mahaleb (P. Mahaleb}; many kinds of roses are worked 

 on manetti and Rosa multiflora stocks. 

 From time to time there arises an agitation against 



936. 

 Cleft- grafting. 



937. The cleft- 

 graft waxed. 



grafting, particularly in the Old World. Cases of poor 

 unions and the difficulties of sprouting from the root or 

 stock are cited as proofs that graftage is injurious and 

 devitalizing. But these 

 are instances of poor 

 graftage. They show 

 what should not be done. 

 Properly done, on plants 

 of proper affinity, graft- 

 age is not devitalizing. 

 It is essential to modern 

 horticulture. There are 

 disadvantages, to be sure, 

 but the advantages over- 

 balance. There are dis- 

 advantages in wearing 

 boots. There is no use in 

 arguing against things 

 which are indispensable. 

 The ways or fashions 

 of grafting are legion. 

 There are as many ways 

 as there are ways of 

 whittling. The operator 

 may fashion the union 

 of the stock and the cion 

 to suit himself, if only 

 he apply cambium to 

 cambium, make a close 

 joint, and properly protect the work. Thus, Thouin in 

 his "Monographic des Greffes," 1821, describes 119 kinds 

 of grafting. All kinds of grafting may be classified into 

 three groups : 



1. Bud-grafting or budding. In the old days called 



inoculation. 



2. Cion-grafting, or what is now thought of as graft- 



ing proper. 



3. Grafting by approach, sometimes called inarching. 



A word may be needed about the terminology of graft- 

 age. As already explained, grafting is merely the ope- 

 ration of inserting a part of one plant into another; but 

 it is ordinarily restricted to grafting by means of short 

 twigs or cions, and budding is used to designate the 

 insertion of single buds which are severed from the 

 branch on which they grew. Stock is the plant or part 

 on which the grafting is done. Cion is the part inserted 

 into the stock, although it is usually restricted to 

 cuttings of twigs, and does not include detached 

 buds. In many writings the word is spelled scion, 

 but the other is shorter and.etymologically more cor- 

 rect. When the writer found it necessary to use the 

 word in print, he chose the shorter form, although 



it is not commended by the dictionaries. It has been 

 said that cion is an anatomical term. It may be; but 

 it was originally a horticultural term. The early hor- 

 ticultural writings used cion and cyon. Scion is later, 

 and has nothing to commend it except usage ; but 

 the usage is not uniform. The word graft is some- 

 times used in the sense of cion, but it would better 

 be used for the completed thing, the new plant or 

 part made by the joining of cion and stock. 



BUDDING. The operation of budding consists of 

 inserting a single detached bud underneath the bark 

 of the stock. It is employed only in stocks of small 

 diameter, and preferably in those not more than one 

 year old. The operation maybe performed whenever 

 the bark will peel and whenever mature buds may be *fo 

 obtained. The bark will peel in early spring and again 

 in late summer or early fall, and the operation of bud- 

 ding in the open ground is therefore performed at those 

 times. In the spring the buds are secured from twigs of 

 the previous season's growth. At the second budding 

 season, in late summer or early fall, the buds 

 are secured from growing twigs of the season. 

 At that time of the year the buds will be suffi- 

 ciently developed to be easily recognized and 

 handled. Budding is much employed in nurser- 

 ies. Peaches, cherries, plums, and most stone 

 fruits, are habitually budded rather than cion- 

 grafted. In the East apples and pears are usually budded 

 in the nursery; but in the West apples at least are usu- 

 ally root-grafted. It is practicable to insert buds in the 

 tops of young trees, rather than cions, for the purpose of 



938. 



