PROPAGATION 



51 



spring, and the cuttings can then be made as convenience 

 dictates, though meanwhile the wood must be kept cool and 

 moist, which is best done by covering them with moist but not 

 wet soil or sand in a cellar or cool shed. In California, the 

 best results are obtained when the grafting is done in Feb- 

 ruary or March, though it may be begun earlier and continued 

 a month later. 



Preparation of cuttings. 



The stocks are cut into lengths of about ten inches, a gauge 

 being used to secure uniform length. The cut at the bottom is 

 made through a bud in such a way as to leave the diaphragm. 

 The top cut is made as near ten 

 inches from the bottom as possi- 

 ble, leaving about one and one- 

 half inches above the top bud for 

 convenience in grafting. The 

 stock is then disbudded, taking 

 both visible and adventitious 

 buds, the latter indicated by 

 woody enlargements, to keep 

 down the number of suckers. 



The cion should be made with 

 but one bud, thereby gaining the 

 advantage of having every cion 

 the same length so that all unions 

 are at the same distance below 

 the surface of the ground in the 

 nursery. The cion is made with 

 about two and one-half inches 

 of internode below the bud and one-half inch above, a sharp 

 knife being the best tool for making the cuts. 



Stock and cion cuttings are now graded to exactly the same di- 

 ameters, this being necessary to secure perfection in the unions. 



FIG. 12. Bench-grafted cuttings 

 of grape, ^howing both the cleft- 

 graft and the whip-graft. 



