GRAFTING 193 



way, with no loss to themselves, the more abundant 

 branches furnish offshoots to the poorer ones. 



"Grafting by means of shoots or scions cut from 

 the parent stock at the outset is analagous to slip- 

 ping. It consists in transplanting on to a new stock 

 a shoot detached from its mother branch. The most 

 common method is cleft-grafting. It is done in the 

 spring when the buds begin to open. Shoots of the 

 preceding year are chosen for grafts, care being 

 taken to select those that are vigorous and that have 

 attained no later than August the hard and woody 

 condition necessary for resistance to the severities 

 of winter. One precaution at the very outset must 

 be taken. When the graft is put in place it will be 

 of the utmost importance that it shall find in its new 

 position nourishment proportionate to its needs. It 

 would infallibly perish if it should prove to be in 

 a more advanced state of vegetation than the stock 

 selected to nourish it. The latter, therefore, ought 

 to be rather ahead of than behind the former in this 

 respect. To secure this result, between one and 

 two months before the operation is to be carried 

 out it is well to cut the grafts and place them in the 

 ground on the north side of a wall, where they will 

 remain quiescent while the branches to which they 

 are to be transferred will make progress and their 

 sap will start. 



"We will suppose there is a worthless pear-tree 

 in our garden, grown from a pip or transplanted 

 from its native wood, and we propose to make it bear 



