ROOT-GRAFTED AND BUDDED TREES. 149 



conclusions. We must approach the subject in an analyti- 

 cal spirit if we are to hope for useful results. 



Before proceeding to a discussion of the comparative 

 effects of budding and root-grafting, it is essential that cer- 

 tain definitions be clearly fixed in the mind. The budding 

 of fruit-stocks in the nursery is performed in the summer 

 time upon stocks which were set in the spring, as fully 

 explained on pages 94 to 105. These stocks are trimmed 

 or "dressed" before they are set in the nursery. Root- 

 grafting, as already explained (See Figs. 103, 104), is the 

 setting of a cion upon a root. If the entire root is used, the 

 operation is known as whole-root-grafting. In this case, 

 the cion is set at the crown and the root is dressed in much 

 the same way that the stock is dressed when it is to be used 

 for budding. If only a portion of the root is used as stock 

 (as in Fig. 103), the operation is known as piece-root-graft- 

 ing. It is this particular operation which is ordinarily 

 understood when people speak of root-grafting. It is ap- 

 parent that the various pieces made of the root may not be 

 comparable. The top piece includes the crown, at which 

 point the cion is inserted. The lowest piece comprises the 

 tip, or smallest, and therefore weakest, portion of the root. 

 Ordinarily, about three pieces are made of a root in the 

 root-grafting of apple stocks. 



It is evident that there are two distinct problems con- 

 cerned in the consideration of the comparative merits of 

 budded and root-grafted trees. One has to do with the 

 comparison of the budding with the grafting, and the other 

 with the different methods of trimming or cutting the stocks. 

 It is perfectly well known that, in general, budding and 

 grafting are equally efficacious methods of propagation, 

 other things being equal. In other words, the mere fact that 

 one tree comes from a bud and another from a cion should 

 make no necessary difference in the value of the tree. All 

 the characteristic differences between budded and root- 

 grafted trees are due to the methods of trimming the stocks, 

 and not to the actual methods of propagation. 



K 



