INCREASING STKIKE HERBACEOUS GRAFTS. 



33 



Ligatures. A ligature must fulfil several conditions; it 

 should hold the two flaps of the bark of the shoot upon the 

 scion, so as to preserve the latter in a fresh state as long as 

 possible, and- should make the scion fit tightly against the 

 sap-wood of the shoot and prevent it from being displaced 

 during the whole time necessary for the knitting to take place. 



Wool, which has been extensively used, would make a 

 good ligature if it did not dry the edge of the flaps ; however, 

 it has sometimes given very satisfactory strikes. 



Clarac tried, at Ondes, a ligature which gave him very 

 good results, but is perhaps rather complicated. It consists 

 of a first binding of rubber tape, over which the ligature is 

 made with wool. The rubber is cut in bands 8 inches 

 long and inch wide ; the strands of rubber are 

 superposed, and the strand of wool wound over **it. The 

 rubber breaks in places very easily, and the object of the 

 wool is to keep it in place. This ligature is too expensive 

 and too complicated to be used on a large scale, and is only 

 interesting from an experimental point of view. 



The best ligatures for grafts above ground are those made 

 of lead or tinfoil (as already used for grafts underground) 

 covering the whole scion, leaving the eye and petiole alone 

 free ; raffia is wound over the foil. 

 It would be preferable to use 

 wool when the graft is made 

 on vigorous shoots, increasing 

 rapidly in diameter (Fig. 46). 

 The lead or tinfoil is "cut in 

 lengths of from f to 1 inch wide, 

 and 2 to 4 inches long, Clarac 

 obtained with this ligature at 

 the school of Ondes a strike of 

 90 per cent. ! Before making 

 the ligature it is necessary to 

 ascertain whether the scion 

 adheres well to the stock this 

 is done by pressing the thumb 

 below and above the bud. 



Best Time for Grafting above 

 ground. With the half sap-wood ' 

 scion-bud, grafts have succeeded Fi s- 46. Ligature. 



in June, July, and August* ; with the first method de- 

 scribed between the 15th May and the 1st of June only. 



8168. 



* About December to February in Victoria. 

 C 



