GRAFTING 105 



careful not to injure buds that come within the 

 grasp that is taken upon the bud stick. The grasp 

 must be of the sort that belongs to handling eggs. 

 If the scion is first cut away from the bud stick and 

 shaped afterward, the insecure short hold may result 

 in irregular knife cuts and failure of the graft in 

 consequence. The cabinetmaker's training would 

 be better than a course in law for a grafter. 



A scion having been shaped in the right way by 

 the right man with the right knife and cut from the 

 right bud stick is ready for insertion into the stock. 

 How shall it be put in? If the stock is of the same 

 diameter as that of the scion the stock is split evenly 

 in the middle and the scion inserted in an ordinary 

 cleft graft way. (Fig. 5.) 



If the stock is a little larger than the scion the 

 cleft is made to one side of the middle so that width 

 of cut still corresponds to width of scion. This is 

 necessary in order to bring at least one cambium 

 layer of stock and scion together as accurately and 

 as nicely as possible. It is the cambium layers which 

 contain cells for cementing union. If the cambium 

 layer of scion comes into contact only with the wood 

 or with the corky bark layer of the stock a man 

 might better put the scion in his pocket and go to 

 the movies instead of trying to be usefully occupied. 



If the stock is very much larger than the scion in 

 diameter, as in top-working the stubs of limbs or 

 the trunk of a tree, we may apply one of the most 

 important steps in technique that the author has de- 

 veloped in his attempts at advancing the subject of 



