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The popular mind is somewhat imbued with the idea that the 

 resultant effect of the intimate union of two plants is often a cross 

 which exhibits some of the characteristics of both parents. The 

 fable of the orange becoming blood red in consequence of its being 

 grafted on the pomegranate finds a fertile ground in the imagination 

 of a great many. Some still believe that the rose grows black when 

 grafted upon the black currant bush, and wonderful tales are told 

 of the marvellous union of some of* the most dissimilar plants. 

 Whenever such plants strike, it is invariably owing to the fact that 

 one of them has struck root like an ordinary cutting and then 

 pushes forth on its own independent accord. 



In a graft, both the stock and the scion continue to behave the 

 one independently of the other, as if they had nothing in common. 

 If a longitudinal section is made of a graft and if that section is 

 smoothly polished, the outlines of the original graft can easily be 

 seen ; in this is the more striking, when the grain of the wood and 

 its colour are more dissimilar, a peach grafted on a plum offers 

 a good illustration of this juxtaposition. This fact is at times very 

 clearly brought to our notice by the clean rupture of the tree at the 

 point of grafting many years after the tree has left the nursery. 

 The only direct influence of the stock on the scion is the degree of 

 vigour which it imparts to it. This is noticeable in the case of 

 pears grafted on sturdy seedling of the wild pear, or on quince 

 roots, or again on apples worked on Northern Spy or on the 

 dwarfing Paradise stock, and further on cherries worked on 

 Mazzard or on Morello and Mahaleb roots. 



A graft, therefore, only differs from a cutting in this much that 

 in its case the soil is replaced by the stock. Its growth is not so directly 

 influenced by the fertility of the soil in which it grows as by the 

 nature and the greater or lesser amount of vigour of the stock 

 which carries it. One common stock is often seen carrying several 

 grafts of as many varieties, and the produce from each of the indi- 

 vidual grafts is in no way influenced by the one growing next 

 to it. 



If grafting does not affect characteristics of the fruit, it often 

 improves the size, the sweetness of the fruit, and the productiveness 

 of the plant. It is a well-known fact that most budded or grafted 

 trees bear earlier and bear more evenly than trees of the same sort 

 growing on their own roots. Indeed, experiments made by grafting 

 and budding on seedling trees, scions and buds taken from these 

 very same trees have imparted to the limbs operated upon the 

 characters of early production noticeable in worked trees ; such trees 

 do not, as a rule, attain such large developments as seedlings, and 

 it would seem that the operation, whilst evincing a somewhat 

 dwarfing or weakening effect on the plant, stimulates at the 

 same time its productive capabilities. A parallel effect is notice- 

 able when the process of annular incision or ring-barking is 

 applied to bad setting grape vines in order to cause them to better 

 set their fruit. 



