140 Re-establishing Grafted Fruit Trees, S^c. 



this point, the operation indicated above ; which operation it 

 is to be regretted that the prejudices of many persons prevent 

 them from putting into practice. It is also the custom to 

 plant trees so that their grafts are above ground, which is 

 admissible for many trees, the habit of whose stock is more 

 vigorous than the graft ; but, in the contrary case, the point 

 of union should be below the surface of the ground. This 

 method should also be employed with all fruit trees planted 

 in a light and parched soil. I have practised this mode of 

 planting successfully, for more than thirty years, in the " Jar- 

 din des Plants,''^ and elsewhere. 



Remarks. — That grafting has a tendency to shorten the 

 longevity of the engrafted sort, is well known to all experi- 

 enced cultivators. On the North River, certain fine kinds of 

 fruit, as green gage and magnum bonum plums, etc., are 

 cultivated and propagated by some careful growers on their 

 own roots, without grafting ; and they are acknowledged to 

 be more durable, hardy and productive, than when engrafted 

 on other stocks. It is, therefore, undoubtedly a desideratum 

 for certain purposes to have some varieties of fruit established 

 on their own roots, and the method just suggested is worthy 

 of attention. 



It should be remarked, however, that, generally speaking, 

 it is a dangerous practice to plant a tree several inches lower 

 than it stood in the nursery, so as to cover the union of the 

 stock and graft. Many trees would languish and die under 

 such treatment unless speedily re-established on the new 

 roots. But this suggests a very excellent mode of grafting 

 that obviates all this difficulty, and which may indeed be 

 considered the most perfect of all modes, viz. : that of graft- 

 ing on pieces of the root, instead of the whole stock ; or cut- 

 ting down small stocks quite to the root, and grafting consid- 

 erably below the surface. This is now practised to some 

 extent by many American nurserymen in working the apple, 

 and it might be carried further with success, as the re-rooting 

 of grafts so inserted would, perhaps, generally take place 

 without assistance. 



Newburgh, N. Y., March, 1845. 



