PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING. 39 



with the mother plant by means of a portion at least 

 of their stem." The operation is performed by bend- 

 ing down a branch to the earth, and pinning it there 

 with hooked pegs. A few inches from the extremity 

 a notch or slit is. cut upwards, generally from the 

 insertion of a bud. Sometimes the shoot is pierced 

 w^ith a number of holes ; a wire is bound round it ; or 

 even a ring of bark is removed. The object of these 

 expedients is to retard the descending sap, and thus 

 promote the formation of radicles, or young roots. 

 This is also aided by bending the branch upward from 

 the point at which the roots are wanted ; and the 

 whole branch, except a few buds at the extremity, is 

 cover-ed with soil.' The seasons best fitted for these 

 operations are early in spring and about midsummer, 

 that is before the, sap begins to flow, and after it has 

 completely ascended. One whole summer, sometimes 

 two summers, must elapse before the layers can be. ex- 

 pected to be fully rooted, or ready to be taken off. 



Propagation hy G-7'afting. — When a shoot or young 

 branch of one tree is inserted into the stem or branch 

 of another, and, by the influence of vegetation, is made 

 to coalesce with it, the process is termed grafting. In 

 this manner apple and pear-trees are commf)nly pro- 

 pagated; plum and cherry-trees are sometimes also 

 grafted, but these last are most generally propagated 

 by budding. Our attention must here be directed to 

 the stoohs into which the shoots or cions, as they are 

 called, are inserted ; to the cmns themselves, and to the 

 mechanical 6>2:>eratzons -employed in grafting. 



The stocTcs should be of the same genus to which the 

 graft belongs, or^ at least, of close afiBnity in natural 

 family. The following are the principal kinds of 



