GRAFTING 191 



close together and that we wish to engraft on one of 

 them a twig or shoot of the other. The parts to be 

 placed in contact receive each a longitudinal gash 

 that penetrates to the marrow, or even deeper, and 

 the two gashes are made of equal length. These 

 parts are then brought together, care being taken to 

 make the young and growing portions in the one 

 exactly meet those in the other; that is to say, the 

 inner layer of bark in each, with the channel trav- 

 ersed by the elaborated sap, is carefully fitted to the 

 corresponding part in its neighbor. The whole is 

 thereupon made fast with a ligature, and the two 

 wounds are left to the slow operation of vital forces. 

 Fed by its own stem or trunk, from which it is not 

 yet separated, the shoot to be transplanted mingles 

 its sap with the sap of its neighbor; on both sides 

 there are new growths to cicatrize the wounds, while 

 the two parts gradually coalesce until, sooner or 

 later, the graft becomes incorporated with its future 

 support. And now the graft must be weaned ; that 

 is, it must, little by little, be deprived of the suste- 

 nance furnished by its own stock. This is accom- 

 plished as in simple layering, by gradually cutting 

 through the shoot below the point of union. As 

 soon as the graft is thought to be getting all its nour- 

 ishment from the new stem, it is completely severed 

 from the mother tree. This mode of grafting, the 

 most elementary of all, sometimes takes place acci- 

 dentally and unassisted. In a hedge or any dense 

 growth of bushes, if two branches chance to come 

 into close and prolonged contact, there will be at 



