28 THE NURSEKY AND THE ORCHARD. 



plants one or more years old, into which the scion is 

 inserted, and from which it derives its nourishment. 

 The scion is simply planted in the stock instead of the 

 soil, and it determines the nature of the grafted tree. 

 It matters not from what kind of a seed an apple seed- 

 ling may have sprung, if a scion from an "Early Har- 

 vest" apple is grafted into it, the fruit from the grafted 

 tree will be "Early Harvest" also. 



It is indispensable to the vigor of the future tree- 

 that both stock and scion possess this quality in a high 

 degree. 



CLEFT GRAFTING. 



Cleft Grafting is one of the most useful methods, prac- 

 ticed largely at the South, where it succeeds even on 

 the peach, which is usually budded at the North. It can 

 be applied to stocks of almost any size, and is so sim- 

 ple and easy that a ten-year-old boy can readily per- 



Fig. 19. 



form it. Fig. 19 represents the young seedling tree- 

 which is to be grafted, with the dirt raked away, and 

 the top cut off at the collar of the root, ready to be split 

 for the reception of the scion, which is taken from a 

 tree of the variety it is desired to propagate. Small 



