OF PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING. 



219 



the stock just at the period when the formation of a 

 new internal layer of bark commences in the spring ; 

 and the fluid which generates this layer of bark, and 

 which also feeds the inserted graft, radiates in every 

 direction from the vicinity of the medulla to the 

 external surface of the alburnum. The graft is, of 

 course, most advantageously placed when it presents 

 the largest surface to receive such fluid, and when 

 the fluid itself is made to deviate least from its natu- 

 ral course. This takes place most efficiently when 

 (as in this saddle-grafting) a graft of nearly equal size 

 with the stock is divided at its base and made to 

 stand astride the stock, and when the two divisions 

 of the graft are pared 

 extremely thin, at and 

 near their lower extre- 

 mities, so that they 

 may be brought into 

 close contact with the 

 stock (from which but 

 little bark or wood 

 should be pared off) 

 by the ligature." {Hort. 

 Trans, v. 147.) To ex- 

 ecute saddle-grafting 

 properly, the scion and 

 stock should be of 

 equal size: and, where 

 that cannot be, a se- 

 cond method, in which 

 the scion maybe much 



