MODES OF GRAFTING. 



77 



any desired variety consists of the young extremity of one of the 

 branches with a terminal bud, and at this season will be soft or 

 herbaceous, hence a keen blade must be used to cut it without 

 bruising. Make two sloping 

 cuts, one on each side, so as to 

 make the base of the graft 

 wedge-shaped, then insert it in 

 the stock and tie it firmly in 

 the usual way. Under glass this 

 method succeeds perfectly. Ac- 

 cording to M. Baltet, there are 

 specimens of Pimis laricio in 

 the forest of Fontainebleau which 

 were thus grafted on P. sylvestris 

 (Scotch Pine) forty years ago; 

 and he adds, " The trees are as 

 fine as if they had been raised 

 from seed." According to the 

 same authority, M. Jules Barotte 

 of Brachay (Haute Marne) has 

 converted by this method thou- 

 sands of P. sylvestris into P. 

 austriaca and P. laricio. He 

 operates in the open ground or 

 in the forest, and grafts the subjects on young leading shoots at 

 the height of two or three feet from the ground, and never 

 covers his grafts with paper caps as they do in the nurseries 

 from which one may infer that this is a really excellent method 

 of treating Conifers. This graft is bandaged with cotton or 

 wool, and the air and rain excluded by mastic in the usual 

 manner. 



Fork-Grafting. This mode is similar to cleft-grafting, but 

 the fork between two young branches is selected and slit to 

 receive a wedge-shaped scion having one or two buds as in the 

 Beech and Vine ; or in the case .of Conifers the scion con- 

 sists of a terminal shoot, the base being cut to a sloping or 

 wedge shape, and inserted and otherwise treated as in the last 

 method. M. Baltet recommends this mode in propagating 

 Thuja, Biota, Chamaecyparis, Cypress, Juniperus, Retinospora, 

 Thujopsis, and 'others. This method is best performed in 

 spring, and the sap is attracted to the graft by shortening the 

 ends of branches immediately below the graft. 



Saddle - Grafting. Camellias, Rhododendrons, and other 

 evergreens may be propagated by this simple method, and it 

 is often used in grafting succulent plants, as Cereus, Epiphyl- 



Treminal Cleft-Grafting. 



