GRAFTING 21 



The grafts, or scions, will have been cut from the stock trees 

 some weeks before, in fact, when the trees were pruned, and 

 retarded by being heeled in deeply and thinly on a north border 

 where growth would least be excited. In every scion there is 

 locked up a reserve amount of vitality, and upon this it is very desir- 

 able that no demand be made until the time of grafting ; it should 

 be dormant when used. The stock, on the contrary, is not retarded 

 in any way, but is required to be in sap when the scion is grafted 

 on to it, so that it may be immediately available to the stranger it 

 has to nurse. If the stock is actually dormant at the time of grafting 

 it can contribute nothing to the support of the scion, for the time 

 being, and it may so happen that during the time of waiting, the 

 latter, exposed to dry harsh winds, may shrivel and perish. We 

 may take it as necessary for the stock to be well in advance of the 

 scion. If the scion should be in advance of the stock, and used up 

 its own limited reserves before the stock could contribute anything, 

 its failure would be inevitable. So much depends on the condition 

 of the stock, and this we hope we have made clear. 



The actual operation of grafting is more difficult, and calls for 

 greater skill and precision, than budding. The essentials are, a 

 good knifesman, a sure hand, a true eye, and an exceedingly keen 

 knife. For the cutting must be bold and clean and true, not snigger- 

 ing or uneven. 



In using the knife the movement must not be in one direction, 

 straight up or down, using one section of the blade only, but it 

 should have a double movement, beginning the cut from the lower 

 half of the blade and finishing at the point, whether the direction 

 be upward or downward. A straight up or down pressure, with no 

 slide, is apt to roughen the pith, and a rough surface anywhere is 

 not conducive to rapid healing and a firm, perfect union. 



We referred to budding as " a surgical operation " ; how much 

 more so is grafting, or the fitting together an unrelated scion and 

 stock with such precision that they speedily become incorporated 

 as one ! There are so many points at which something might go 

 wrong : either the union may be imperfect and generate a weakness ; 

 an inexact fitting together of scion and stock ; a misplacement by 

 accident ; and the only means of guarding against these is by the 

 most skilful manipulation on the part of the operator. 



