PROPAGATION 27 



growing seedling fruit trees it often requires a long number of years 

 to know whether these seedlings are worth perpetuating, as seedlings 

 are apt to be a long time in fruiting, partly owing to their robust 

 growth; but every species of plant raised from seed takes a certain 

 time before the flowering and fruiting stage is reached. When old 

 enough to give wood for cions, the seedlings which we will suppos: 

 to be the results of cross-fertilization are grafted on older seedlings, 

 or fruit-bearing stocks, with the result that flowering and fruiting 

 are hastened very considerably. When it is desired to propagate a 

 large number of any selected variety that has thus been flowered 

 and fruited, the grafts are often used on one- or two-year-old 

 seedUng stocks. It will thus be seen that a very large number of 

 slow flowering and fruiting plants can be raised by this method, in 

 a comparatively short time. But the uses to which it is put by no 

 means end here. Some flowering shrubs have the same character- 

 istics; they take quite a long while to flower from the seedling stage. 

 Very often seedlings do not make floriferous plants, and many of the 

 forms do not produce seeds at all. Therefore, recourse is had to 

 grafting or budding, not only to lessen as much as possible the time 

 between the periods of propagation and flowering, but also to per- 

 petuate certain pecuUarities in species and varieties which cannot 

 be brought about by seeds or cuttings. Frequently the stock has 

 beneficial influences upon the cion. One of them is that some things 

 which are comparatively tender are rendered hardier by being 

 grafted upon the stocks of hardy species or their varieties. In order 

 to make fruit trees dwarf, such as Apples and Pears, certain well- 

 known stocks are used for this purpose, such as Paradise and 

 Doucin stocks for Apples and Quince for Pears. 



For outdoor grafting the usual time is in the Spring, just before 

 the plants are in active growth, the actual time varying, of course, 

 with different plants and in different parts of the country. The 

 cions are cut in early Winter, and buried in the soil or sand, just 

 out of the reach of frost. This keeps them fresh and plump, and in 

 a condition to readily unite with the stock. 



The methods of grafting are numerous; some of them are quite 

 complicated and have been originated merely to show the skill of 

 some operator. The easiest way may be said to be the best, and 

 the best methods are so easy that an intelligent child may be taught 

 in a short time to perform the work successfully. Indoor grafting 

 is practiced during August and September, and, with dormant wood, 

 during the period from December to March. As a rule, the closer 

 the relationship between stock and cion the greater the chances of 



