46 Propagation by Grafting and Budding. 



lower branches, they will fruit sooner, but do not grow to so hand- 

 some a shape as those from the center or top of the tree. They are 

 often taken from young trees in nursery rows. 



174. There are various modes of grafting, which need not here 

 be described in detail. They agree in bringing the newly cut surfaces 

 of the scion and the stock together, so that the fresh bark and 

 young wood of each are in close contact, the wound covered from 

 the air by some plastic substance, and the parts held together till 

 they unite. This is done by splicing, inserting in a clef, by binding 

 two branches or trunks together, after cutting away the bark and 

 wood of each so that they may be closely united, and in various 

 other ways. Where two -living trees are thus united, the connection 

 is cut away from one of them, after the union is complete. 



175. Budding, is the insertion of the bud of one tree under the 

 bark of another, and covering and securing it till a union forms. 

 It is done in midsummer and early autumn, from the 1st of July 

 till the middle of September, and only when the bark of the stock 

 will separate from the wood. Annular budding consists in taking 

 a ring of bark from one tree, containing a bud, and placing it 

 around a branch of the same size, from which a similar piece of bark 

 has been taken in another tree. Sometimes a piece less than the 

 entire size is inserted. By this means the injuries to bark by mice, 

 etc., may sometimes be repaired. 



176. By the aid of cuttings, grafts, and layers, we are able to se- 

 cure the growth of some kinds of trees that never bear seed in the 

 climate where they may be grown by transplanting, and especially 

 we may perpetuate varieties to indefinite extent by these methods. 



177. As examples of this, we find the Lombardy poplar, the 

 weeping willow, and cut-leaved varieties of the birch, alder, beech, 

 maple, etc., under cultivation, that would be lost in a single gener- 

 ation of tree-life, if they depended upon growth from the seeds. 

 The sumac, so successfully grown in Southern Europe, does not 

 ripen its seeds, even in Sicily, where it grows to the greatest per- 

 fection; and the English elm ( Ulmus campestris) is almost always 

 grown from layers, or suckers, taken from old trees, or by grafting 

 upon other stocks. It may even be grown in moist rich soils, by 

 burying the chips having bark with buds upon them, if these are 

 cut in early spring, and planted at once before drying. 



