GRAFTING. 53 



below the surface of the soil, rooted in it, independ- 

 ently of the fig stock. Pliny speaks of a tree 

 grafted to bear, on the same stem, pears, apples, 

 figs, plums, olives, almonds, grapes, &c. This, if 

 true, was perhaps by a similar process to that now 

 performed in Italy, for growing jasmines and other 

 flexible plants, on an orange stock, by the mere 

 cheat of boring out the orange stem, through which 

 the stems of the other plants are made to pass, and 

 which soon grow so as to fill it closely, and to ap- 

 pear as if growing together, the roots interming- 

 ling. They are, of course, very short-lived. 



