250 



PLANT PKUPAGATION 



humid atmosphere for perhaps a week. Wax is thus dis- 

 pensed with ; indeed, it is thought to be a detriment. 



Some propagators bind moss around the wounds, but 

 there is likelihood that roots will develojD as in pot layer- 

 ing and the parts fail to knit together unless they are 

 first bandaged. It is possible to graft shrubs and trees 

 while the shoots are herbaceous, but this plan is not 

 popular. Conifers (pines and spruces), and some de- 

 ciduous trees (walnut) are occasionally saddle or cleft 

 grafted in mid to late spring, bound with waxed cheese- 

 cloth and shaded with manila sacks. 



FIG. 200— UNCOMMON METHODS OF BLDEHNG 

 A, annular or ring; b, terminal; c, plate; d* H-budding; e, flute; f, prong; g, chip. 



Experiments at Cornell University have shown that the wood 

 must be somewhat hardened to secure best results. Soft, flabby 

 shoots are likely to be injured in the operation, and the union does 

 not occur readily. Cleft and veneer styles were most satisfactory. 

 In most cases it is necessary only to bind the parts with raffia. 



325. Grafted potatoes. — E. Laurent, a Belgian investigator, 

 grafted light and colored flesh potatoes on each other by various 

 methods, but after three years of experimenting found no color 

 from a violet variety in the tubers of the light-fleshed stock. 



326. Grafting beets has been experimentally done to increase 

 the seed yield of desirable varieties. The mother beet root is 

 sprouted. When the off-sets at the crown are about three-fourths 

 inch long they are removed witli some of the flesh and inserted in 

 new beets just below the crown, in cuts corresponding to the form 

 of the cions. In one experiment 48 off-sets were secured from one 

 "mother" and 31 of these grew into first-class plants, each of which 

 yielded a normal amount of seed. 



