FRUIT TREES. Chap. I. 21 



where they intersect, which is sufficient for the graft to take. But it's better if the contact 

 is made along the entire length of its wedge. 



Once the graft has been set, the two sides of the cleft are allowed to come 

 together. If the stock is a rather large one, their force will be sufficient to grip the graft 

 tightly. If it isn't, it's fastened with a small osier tied to the stock at the insertion point. 



A dressing fashioned from a mixture of red earth or clay & cow dung is applied 

 on the cut in the stock & on the insertion point & secured with a piece of old cloth. The 

 dressing is formed as well from a little mortar of mud and straw plus the mixture of earth 

 & cow dung. 



Small stocks are set with a single graft, medium-sized ones with two, & large 

 ones with four, making a second cleft that cuts the first one at a right angle. It's actually 

 preferable to insert the latter two grafts between the wood & the bark (in crown graft 

 fashion) rather than in a second cleft, if it's not too inconvenient to do the operation in 

 two stages. 



If the stocks are extremely slender, an equal sized graft can be selected & set so 

 that the two inside edges of the bark of one make precise contact with the inside edges of 

 the bark of the other. 



Furthermore, when the stock and the graft are the same, or almost the same size, 

 the inverse of the above procedure can be done, i.e. cut the end of the stock into a wedge, 

 split the large end of the graft C, and fit the two together so that either one of the two 

 inside edges of the bark of one contacts the edge of the other, or both inside edges match 

 up with the bark of the other, as shown in D. This method of grafting is called fork 

 grafting. The same dressing is applied as in ordinary cleft grafting. 



II. CROWN GRAFT. Fig. 3. 1°. The base 



