GRAFTING 



227 



his sorrow, the farmer helps bad weeds, such as Quack Grass and 

 Marsh Smartweed {Polygonum Muhlenbergii), to spread by scat- 

 tering portions of their underground stems while putting in and 

 cultivating crops. 



Cuttings, known as hard-wood cuttings, are commonly employed 

 in propagating such woody plants as the Grape, Currant, Goose- 

 berry, "Willows, Poplars, 

 and many ornamental 

 shrubs. They may be 

 made in different ways as 

 shown in Figure 211, but 

 in each case they must 

 have at least one bud. 



Layering. — A layer is 

 a branch which is put in 

 contact with the soil and 

 induced to develop roots 

 and branches while still 

 in contact with the parent 

 plant. After a layer has 

 developed roots and 

 branches, it is separated 

 from the parent and be- 

 comes an independent 

 plant. There are different methods of layering, but usually the 

 branches are bent to the ground and covered with dirt. In 

 layering Grapes, a vine is stretched along in a shallow trench 

 and buried throughout its entire length as shown in Figure 212. 

 Raspberries and many shrubs are propagated by layering. 



Grafting. — Grafting is the common method used in propa- 

 gating fruit trees, and consists in so joining parts of different 

 plants that they unite their tissues and live together as one plant. 

 In grafting there are two members involved, the stock and don 

 or scion. The stock, which may be a root, stump, or almost the 

 entire shoot, is the member which remains in contact with the soil, 

 while the cion is the portion of a shoot, usually a twig or branch, 

 which is to be made to grow on the stock. Since only growing 

 tissues, such as the cambiums, are able to unite and heal wounds, 

 it is necessary in grafting to have the cambiums of the stock and 

 cion so adjusted that they can become grown together and thus 



Fig. 208. — The Life Plant {Bryophyllum 

 calycinum) developing young plants on the 

 margins of the leaves. About one-half natu- 

 ral size. 



