PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 67 



other seedlings of commoner kinds, or on soft-wooded cuttings 

 if the latter are preferable. 



Hitherto we have spoken principally of stem-grafting, but 

 some plants are grafted on portions of the underground stem, 

 on the root, or on the tuber ; and we have seen examples of 

 fruit-grafting, one Gourd being grafted on another variety as 

 a curiosity, and a number of such examples have been figured 

 and described in the ' Revue Horticole.' Even leaves may be 

 used as stocks on which to insert small branches as scions. 

 " Among the plants which may be propagated from leaf -cut- 

 tings is the Orange ; but it appears that it is possible not only 

 to propagate the Orange in this way, but even to graft the 

 scion upon the leaf as a stock. MM. Thibaut and Keteleer 

 have accomplished this curious feat : A leaf-cutting was taken 

 in the ordinary way, then a notch was cut on the under surface 

 of the midrib, wherein a graft was inserted and kept in place 

 by a ligature. The leaf-stalk produced roots. The graft ' took,' 

 and its buds developed ; a little stem was formed, the base 

 of which consisted partly of the leaf-stalk and the median 

 nerve of the stock thus rendered woody and persistent, 

 partly of the scion. The leaf in this instance lost its usual 

 transient character, and became woody and persistent like a 

 stem." Root-grafting is practised with Aralias, Clematis, Peony, 

 Petrea, Bignonia, Wisteria, Dammara, and sometimes in the 

 case of the Vine, the scion being inserted by cleft-grafting at 

 the junction between the stem and root, and then the point 

 of union covered with a mound of earth. Grafting eyes, or 

 even shoots, on tuberous-rooted plants, is practised in the case 

 of the Potato, Dahlias, and some species of Ipomoea. Mr 

 W. Spinks succeeded in propagating the Apple in the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick, by inserting 

 scions on pieces of root and burying them so as to cover the 

 point of union with moist soil ; and the Apple has been largely 

 multiplied in Australia and California by this method, which 

 owes its origin to the accidental arrival of scions of valuable 

 varieties late in the season, when ordinary stocks were scarce, 

 and the weather too hot and dry for working them in the 

 usual manner with any chance of success. Roses are very 

 frequently worked on the roots of the Manetti, and succeed 

 well. The possibility of transplanting i.e., grafting blossom 

 or fruit buds during the autumn months was pointed out by 

 Mr T. A. Knight in 1812 (see Trans. Hort. Soc., vol. ii. p. 

 7), and although scarcely practicable on a large scale, it is 

 interesting to know it can be .done. Rose-buds which con- 

 tained the embryo flower were inserted in August on young 



