Gardening in Californi 



GRAFTING. 



Grafting is an operation in which two cut surfaces of the 

 same plant or of different plants are placed so as to unite and 

 grow together. The portion cut off is termed the scion or graft 

 and the plant on which it is worked or grafted is called the stock. 



Whip-grafting is generally considered the best kind of graft- 

 ing and is the one most extensively used. 



When the stock and the scion are of equal thickness, the wood 

 of the cut surfaces when placed together, should cover each other 

 completely and exactly, so that the inner bark of the stock 

 touches the inner bark. of the scion. 



In proceeding to operate, cut the stock in a sloping direction, 

 terminating, if possible, above a bud. Then take the scion and 

 cut it sloping from above and thin towards the end, the shape of 

 the scion being similar to that of the stock ; cut a split or tongue 

 a little above the middle of the scion and a like tongue in the 

 cut surface of the stock, the purpose of the tongues being to hold 

 the parts together. The parts should then be secured by being 

 tied with matting or other material and surrounded with graft- 

 ing-wax, clay or some other substance which will exclude the air 

 and wet. 



There are several other modes of grafting including Saddle- 

 grafting, Cleft-grafting and Side-grafting, the object being in 

 all systems to bring together the inner bark so that the sap vessels 

 of the stock will fit exactly with the sap vessels of the scion, and 

 to securely keep them in position until a union is effected. 



PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 



A cutting is an entirely detached portion of a plant, usually 

 a shoot or part of a shoot, having buds or buds and leaves. Cut- 

 tings should be taken only from healthy plants and from parts 

 of these which are not in a weakly state, and, further, only from 



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