664 



GRAFTAGE 



GRAFTAGE 



the orchard, the original root may be cut off in case it is 

 not very vigorous ; although this is not done if the 

 union seems to be good and the foster roots are strong. 

 This root-grafting is done in winter (Dec. and Jan. 

 preferred) ; the grafts are stored in clean sawdust, sand 

 or moss in a cool cellar, and are set in nursery rows in 

 the open early in the spring, after the manner of grape 

 cuttings. 



The waxed string, with which the whip-grafts are 

 tied, may be made by dropping a ball of yarn into the 

 melted grafting wax which is spoken of above. In five 

 minutes the wax will have penetrated the ball, but the 

 strand can readily be unwound. The best material for 

 this purpose is No. 18 knitting cotton. This is strong 

 enough to hold the work together, and yet weak enough 

 so that it may be broken in the hands without cutting 

 the fingers. It will ordinarily decay during the year, and 

 thereby not interfere with the growth of the tree. If the 

 grafting is done in a room at a living temperature, the 





946. Veneer-grafting. 



waxed string should be soft enough to stick to the stock 

 without being tied. Four or five turns are made around 

 the union. Waxed Manila paper, cut in narrow strips, 

 is also much used; also single strand cotton " chain" or 

 warp-thread, either waxed or not waxed. 



Any sharp knife with a handle large enough to be 

 grasped readily is useful for whip -grafting. The blade 

 should be thin, and the steel of best quality. The 

 handle should also be strong. Fig. 944 shows a common 

 form of grafting knife. Good shoe-knives may be used. 



Veneer-grafting. This style of grafting, which is 

 considerably used under glass with fancy and orna- 

 mental plants, consists in simply champering the sur- 

 faces of cion and stock and applying the one to the 

 other (Fig. 945). The cion is bound to the stock by 

 raffia or other material. If the graft is in the open the 

 wounds are thoroughly waxed ; but in the house they 

 may be covered merely with moss. This style of union 

 is used with herbaceous plants, as well as on hard 

 wood. Sometimes the stock is severed at the point of 

 union, as in Fig. 945 ; but in other cases it is not sev- 

 ered nor headed back until the cion has taken hold 

 (Fig. 946). In the latter case, the stock is not injured 

 in case the graft does not grow. 



Herbaceous grafting. Pelargoniums, chrysanthe- 

 mums and other soft-wooded greenhouse plants are 



947. Inarching the branches 

 two plants. 



sometimes grafted for the novelty of having more than 

 one variety growing on the same root. Probably most 

 herbaceous plants can be grafted readily, with the excep- 

 tion of the endogens, 

 which do not lend them- 

 selves to the operation, 

 although there are in- 

 stances in which graft- 

 ing has been made suc- 

 cessful on them. In 

 order to succeed with an 

 herbaceous cion, it is 

 necessary that the room 

 be rather close and moist 

 in order that evaporation 

 may not be very rapid. 

 One should endeavor to 

 secure the general con- 

 ditions which obtain in a 

 good propagating house. 

 The temperature should 

 be kept rather below the 

 normal for that species 

 until union has taken 

 place. It is usually best 

 to cover the union with 

 moss or some other ma- 

 terial in order to protect 

 the wound and to check 

 evaporation. Best re- 

 sults are secured when 

 the cion is firm in tex- 

 ture, as also in the case 



of herbaceous cuttings. The kind of graft is 

 less importance, although it is customary to use the 

 veneer-graft cions, since there is less injury to the stock 

 and the outer surfaces are easily applied to each other. 

 The cion ordinarily consists of one or two joints, and if 

 the leaves are large, they are cut in two, as in the mak- 

 ing of softwood cuttings. 



Inarching. In those cases in which union takes 

 place with much difficulty, it is possible to effect the 

 conjunction by allowing the cion to grow fast to the 

 stock before the cion is severed from its own roots. 

 The plant which it is desired to have grow on the 

 stock is bent over to the stock, the surfaces of the two 

 are exposed so that the cambiums may be pressed close 

 together, and the two are then bound until union takes 

 place. In some cases a tongue is made in 

 both the cion and the stock, much as in 

 whip-grafting, so that the surface of contact 

 is greater and the parts are held together 

 more securely. When the cion has be- 

 come thoroughly established on the stock, 

 the cion is severed from its own root and 

 the top of the stock is cut off. This inarch- 

 ing or grafting by approach is also used in 

 the greenhouse when it is desired to trans- 

 fer the whole top or the whole branch of one 

 plant to another. The illustration (Fig. 947) 

 shows such a case. Inarching is seldom 

 employed in this country in a commercial 

 way. 



Inarching is sometimes employed to unite 

 two branches into one for the purpose of 

 making a specimen fruit grow larger. If, 

 for example, a twig of an apple tree is in- 

 arched into a limb just back of a fruit, the 

 extra food supply may cause that fruit to 

 grow larger, and a finer specimen may be 

 obtained. This use of the graft is employed 

 only for the purpose of securing extra fine 

 specimens for exhibition or other purposes. 



Bridge -grafting. W^ounds or girdles may 

 be bridged by cions, as in Fig. 948. Trim 

 the edges of the girdle to the fresh, firm 

 tissue, insert cions which are whittled wedge- 

 shape at each end, draw bandages around 

 the trunk so as to hold the free edges of the 

 bark and the ends of the cions, and pour 

 melted wax over the work. This operation 

 is performed in spring, with dormant cions. 943. Bridge- 

 Prevent the buds from throwing out shoots. grafting. 



