EFFECTS OF THE GRAFTING AND BUDDING OF TREES. 339 



Scion preserves its natural purity unmixed or lincontaminated 



■with any other juice: and, as we have since discovered, 



that all sap is nearly thesame, being merely the juices of the 



earth ; and that it is the blood which runs iii the bark alone 



■which gives taste and variety to the tree; so the scion can 



in no way be altered by the stock, without the juice 6f the 



bark runs into it. Now it is most certain, that this is not No unionpfthi 



the case; for the barks never join so as to communicate vess \'- ot l ^e 

 7 J bark ni gn.i.n> 



juice, as I shall show when I describe the alteration mademgs. 



in the parts in contact. The scion or bud (for it is thesame 



in both) is placed on the graft or stock as in the earth ; 



but, instead of having to prepare its own sap (which the 



infant plant is obliged to do before its root grows) it finds 



this ready medicated for it, and fitted -for its more advanced 



state, to push it forth with a vigour truly wonderful. To 



graft is merely therefore to form a tree in a far quicker 



manner than a seed could ; and in very delicate plants to 



take away from them all the dangers attending their infant 



state ; and at once place them in maturity. This is the real 



object of grafting and budding. 



I cannot agree with Mr. Foresyth, that the juices, when j u ; C esof ths 



they arrive at the scion, must have a more easy, plentiful, stock not more 



and perfect assimilation, than if they were its own; for the s ^o n# 



scion can only do well, when the vessels of the stock agree 



perfectly with its vessels. Its own cylinders must therefore 



more perfectly assimilate than any stranger tree can. Still, 



if the wood vessels suit each other, we may be satisfied 



that the plant will do well. This is indeed of such extreme 



consequence, that of the number I have examined which I 



had budded and grafted for trials of various trees, more 



than thirty have died from the difference of the size of the 



two woods ; for does it not stand to reason, that, if you 



try to force a quantity of water from a large vessel into a 



small one, it will burst the small one: or, if it is the small 



one, that pours its contents into the large one, it will not 



half fill it, and the vessel will be pressed with too much air, 



that will pour in to supply the place of water; and tho 



■vessel will equally burst. This is literally the case in the 



two woods that are to be joined together, whether in 



plethory or emptiness of sap, they equally burst, but in the 



Z 3 fiwt, 



