166 



THE NURSERY-MANUAL 



with waxed muslin or raffia, and shaded with paper bags. 

 The walnut and some other trees that do not work readily are 

 sometimes treated in this manner. 



Even leaves may be used as stocks or cions. Any succulent 

 and permanent leaves, as those of the house-leeks, crassula, and 

 the like, may have young shoots worked on them, and leaves 

 used as cuttings can often be made to grow on other plants. 



Fruit-grafting. -- A little known 

 species of herbaceous-grafting is the 

 joining of parts of fruits. It is easily 

 performed with fleshy fruits, as to- 

 matoes, apples, squashes and cucum- 

 bers. When the fruit is half or more 

 grown, one-half or a piece is cut away 

 and a similar half from another fruit 

 is applied. Better results follow if the 

 severed side of the parent or stock 

 fruit is hollowed out a little, so as to 

 let the foreign piece set into the cavity. 

 The edges of the epidermis of the 

 stock are then tied up closely against 

 the cion by means of bast or raffia. 

 The two parts are securely tied to- 

 gether, but no wax is required. This 

 operation succeeds best under glass, where conditions are uni- 

 form, and where winds do not move the fruits. 



Seed-grafting. An interesting kind of grafting has been 

 described in France by Pieron, which consists in using a seed 

 as a cion. This has been employed in the grape. A seed is 

 dropped into a gimlet-hole near the base of the vine while the 

 sap is rising in the spring. The seed germinates, and after a 

 time the plantlet unites with the stock. 



Inarching. Inarching, or grafting by approach, is the 

 process of grafting contiguous plants or branches while the 



FIG. 196. Inarching. 



