Gardening for Amateurs 



695 



and established though un- 

 satisfactory plant, which, 

 instead of being discarded, 

 is made to serve as a 

 stock. Thus it is that 

 choice varieties of Apple 

 are grown on a stock of 

 the Wild Crab Apple or 

 of the Paradise ; the Rose 

 is grown on the Wild Rose 

 or Brier and on the 

 Manetti stock, etc. The 

 scion which is joined to 

 the stock is a twig or small 

 branch of the selected 

 variety, from 4 inches to 

 12 inches long, bearing 

 plenty of plump buds ; 

 it is almost invariably of 

 the previous year's growth. 

 When the scion is placed 

 in position on the stock we 

 must see that there is free 

 passage given to the sap 

 to pass up from the stock 

 to the scion so as to en- 

 sure a thorough union of 

 the two different parts. 

 The portions that must be 

 placed together are the 

 growing parts or cambium 

 layers just underneath the 

 bark and they must be 

 brought into direct con- 

 tact ; they need not touch 

 all the way round, in fact 

 this is almost impossible, 

 but there must be a suffi- 

 cient and true contact to 

 allow intercommunication 

 between stock and scion. 

 Always see, then, that the 

 inner surface of the bark 

 of one coincides with that 

 of the other ; try to get 

 them to touch at as many 

 places as possible and suc- 

 cess is assured. The scion 

 and the stock must be 

 firmly tied together or 

 they tend to separate as 

 the callus forms over the 

 wound, and all air must 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 5. Fig. 6. 



The various processes in 

 whip or tongue grafting. 



be excluded from the ex- 

 posed parts until they are 

 healed. Union is not en- 

 sured until the scion is 

 in active growth and con- 

 tinuing to grow, so that 

 meddling with the wounds 

 must be avoided until 

 there is not the slightest 

 doubt about the success of 

 the work. 



Another point to remem- 

 ber in grafting with dor- 

 mant shoots like those of 

 the Apple, Pear, Plum and 

 the like is that the twigs 

 or scions should be re- 

 moved from the tree some 

 time in advance and placed 

 in the soil, as is done with 

 cuttings, in order to keep 

 them dormant ; the aim 

 is to have the scions in- 

 active and the stock active. 

 When the time for grafting 

 is at hand the end of the 

 scion is removed so as to 

 get a fresh cut, and contact 

 is made with the stock in 

 any approved way ; the 

 stock then continues to 

 send up sap and acts like 

 a force pump, pushes 

 moisture into the scion, 

 makes it begin to grow, 

 and then union rapidly 

 takes place. Grafting is 

 generally carried out in 

 the month of March, just 

 when the buds are begin- 

 ning to swell freely ; cli- 

 matic and vegetative con- 

 ditions must, however, 

 determine the exact time. 



Reasons for Grafting. 

 Many advantages are 

 to be derived from judici- : 

 ous grafting. Maturity is 

 more speedily arrived at 

 by the process than if we 

 grew from cuttings or 

 seeds, and, too, we are 

 able to propagate varieties 



