174 



Grafting. 151. When describing above the 



occlusion of wounds it was noted that the cambium and 

 living tissues of one callus cushion, coming into contact 

 with those of another cushion, coalesced with, and 

 became intimately united to them. This power possessed 

 by living tissues of thus growing firmly together is taken 

 practical advantage of in several ways in the operations 

 known collectively as grafting. Ordinary grafting consists 

 in bringing the cambium and living tissues of one plant 

 into close contact with similar tissues of another plant. 

 These ultimately coalesce, and from the union of parts of 

 two distinct plants we thus get a single plant ; one of the 

 partners, called the stock, which was provided with roots, 

 supplying water and mineral salts from the soil, the other 

 partner called the scion, which possessed shoot buds, supply- 

 ing food materials which it manufactures in its leaves. Such 

 a union is, however, as a rule, only possible between closely 

 related plants. In the majority of cases of successful graft- 

 ing each partner is found to preserve its own individual 

 characteristics ; if one of them naturally grows faster than the 

 other it continues to do so after grafting has taken place and 

 a distinct line of demarcation between the fast-and slow-grow- 

 ing tissues of the partners is visible in the stem of the plant 

 resulting from the grafting ; similarly an Alphonse mango 

 grafted on an ordinary country-mango stock, continues to pro- 

 duce Alphonse mangoes as before and not the unpalatable coun- 

 try fruit. At the same time rare cases are known where graft- 

 ing has resulted in more or less altering the characteristics of 

 the partners. The method of grafting usually adopted in India 

 is that known as inarching. Firminger describes the oper- 

 ation as follows : " Procure a seedling of about one or two 

 years old, of the plant to be inarched, or where a seedling is 

 not to be obtained, a rooted cutting of the same age, of the 

 plant that is to supply the stock. Put it in a pot, and when 

 it is well established it will be ready to be operated upon. 

 Slice away from one side of the young stem a piece of bark, 

 with a thin layer of the wood beneath it, about two inches long ; 

 do the same to a young stem of the plant to be inarched from, 

 and then bring together the two stems that have thus been 

 operated upon so that the cut parts lie close in contact face to 

 face, and bandage them with cotton-twist. In course of 

 time, when the parts have united, head down the stook and 

 dissever the scion from the parent plant by cutting it through 

 below the bandage. The grafted plant must then be put 



