56 .. PLANT PROPAGATION 
forms the scion, which should be inserted about April, 
when the sap is flowing. Grafts with dormant buds are 
_ made from wood of the current year, and put in about 
August or September, to develop the following year. 
The scion may be prepared for the side of an upright 
stock by making a long splice-cut in the lower part, 
taking care to render it smooth throughout and thin at 
the point. Incisions, not penetrating the alburnum, are 
then made in the stock, and the scion is inserted in 
much the same manner as a bud, tied in, and covered 
with clay or wax. On horizontal branches the stock 
may have a notch cut and a portion of the bark raised 
nearer the tree (see illustration, a), the scion (b) being 
prepared to fit, as shown at c.. Double-grafting on 
established fruit-trees of inferior quality might be 
largely. practised, if desired, by this method. 
Side-grafting in the alburnum, with an oblique or a 
vertical cleft, is more especially adapted for evergreens, 
when the operation is performed under glass in February 
or the latter part of summer. 
Ordinary Veneer-Grafting. 
This method is ‘principally employed for propagating 
various trees and evergreen shrubs, either in spring or 
in autumn, the former preferred. The scion should be 
well ripened, either of the previous or current year, 
according to the time it is inserted, and the stock must 
be in a state of activity. In the evergreen scion the 
leaves from the top are not removed. It must be cut 
with an even splice-cut, about 1 inch long, and fitted on 
the side of the stock, previously prepared by having just 
the same quantity of bark—as far as the first layers of 
the alburnum—removed that the size of the cut portion 
