PROPAGATION. 



35 



thin blade is needed for this operation, A wax plaster, drawn 

 closely round the place of union, completes the work. When 

 the stock and graft are very nearly of equal size, this is a very 

 perfect mode of grafting, as large corresponding surfaces are 

 made to fit, and the graft receives freely the ascending sap. 



In all these modes of grafting, whenever a wedge is made 

 to enter a cleft, it should be thickest on the side where the fit 

 is made between the two parts, so as to receive the full pres- 

 sure of the cut faces at that side, as shown in Fig. 50. 



A modification of saddle-grafting, very successful in its re- 

 sults, is thus performed: Late in spring, after growth has 

 commenced, the scion, which is much smaller than the stock, 

 is split up, nearer to one side, more than half its length (Fig. 

 53). The stronger side is then sharpened into a wedge at its 

 point, and introduced between the bark and the wood, a slight 

 longitudinal slit being made through the bark of the stock, 

 that it may open slightly and admit the graft. The thinner 

 division of the graft is fitted to the opposite sloping side of 

 the stock. The whole is then covered with wax. The great 

 length of that portion of the graft in contact with the bark 

 and fresh wood greatly facili- 

 tates their union ; while the 

 cut face of the stock is 

 speedily covered with a new 

 growth by that part of the 

 graft which rests upon it. 



Veneer-grafting is still 

 another method, strongly ad- 

 vocated by some. Mr. E. S. 

 Crandall of Michigan thus 

 describes the process. Fig. 

 54 will explain the veneer- 

 graft : A shows the cuts upon 

 stock and scion ; these cuts 

 are not to extend into the 

 wood, but simply through 

 the back, so that when placed 

 in position the exposed 

 broad surfaces of cambium come together; B shows stock and 

 scion in contact, and bound with raffia or other material ; C 

 shows a veneer-grafted apple-tree after one season's growth. 



A B 



FIG. 54. Veneer-grafting. 



