CHAPTER V 



ASEXUAL PROPAGATION ON THE ROOTS 

 OF OTHER PLANTS 



PLANTS are propagated on roots other than their own by 

 means of budding and grafting, which consist in inserting 

 a part of one plant in the stem or root of another with the 

 object of causing the two to grow together. The portion 

 of a plant inserted in another is called a cion (or scion). 

 The plant on which the cion is placed is known as the stock. 

 Grafting can be done best in late winter or early spring 

 when the tissues are in a resting stage, while budding is 

 performed in late spring, summer, or early autumn when 

 the tissues are active. 



102. Uses of budding and grafting. By means of bud- 

 ding and grafting it is possible to perpetuate varieties which 

 do not come true to seed, to propagate plants which do not 

 produce sufficient seed or which do not grow readily either 

 from seed or by asexual methods other than budding or 

 grafting, and to adapt plants to unfavorable conditions by 

 the use of suitable stocks. 



103. Limits of grafting and budding. Commercially, 

 grafting and budding are limited to exogenous plants of 

 types which unite readily. Although there is no absolute 

 rule to follow, in general it is safe to say that the closer 

 the botanical relationship the more certain is the union. 

 It is only in a few instances that it is possible to graft mem- 

 bers of one family of plants upon those of another. One 

 would not expect, for example, that the peach, a member 

 of the Rose family, could be grafted upon the oak, a member 



