IS GRAFTAGE PERNICIOUS ? 85 



which has become universal, these statements possess 

 extraordinary interest. 



The assumptions underlying these denunciations of 

 graftage are three, and as these are essentially the rea- 

 sons which are usually cited by the opponents of the 

 system, they may be considered here. These are : i. The 

 citation of numerous instances in which graftage (by 

 which is meant both grafting and budding) has given per- 

 nicious results. 2. The affirmation that the process is 

 unnatural. 3. The statement that own-rooted plants are 

 better — that is, longer lived, hardier, more virile ^ — than 

 graft-rooted plants. 



I. The citations of the injurious effects of graftage are 

 usually confined to ornamental plants, and the commonly 

 cited fault of the operation is the tendency of the stocks to 

 sucker and choke the graft. This fault is certainly very 

 common, but on the other hand there are numerous 

 instances in which it does not occur, as, for instance, in 

 peach, apple, pear and many other fruit-trees, and in very 

 many ornamentals. In fact, it is probably of no more com- 

 mon occurrence than is the pernicious suckering of plants 

 grown from cuttings, as in the lilacs, cutting-grown or 

 sucker-grown plums, and many other plants, in which suck- 

 ers must be assiduously kept down or they will choke the 

 main stem which we are endeavoring to rear. And these 

 remarks will apply with equal force to all the citations 

 of the ill-effects of graftage ; the cases simply show that 

 the operation has been a failure or is open to objections 

 in the particular instances cited, and they afford no proof 

 that there may not be other plants upon which graftage 

 is an entire success. Graftage has been indiscriminately 

 employed, and it is apparent to everyone that there have 

 been many failures. But this does not prove graftage 

 wrong, any more than the wrong practice of physicians 

 proves that the science of medicine is pernicious. If 

 there are plants upon which graftage is entirely suc- 

 cessful, then all must agree that the operation itself. 



