336 



HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



Fig. 112. 



SCION OF CONIFER 



PREPARED FOR 



GRAFTING. 



the preceding year's wood, and inserted them in 

 wood of one or two years' growth. We have 

 found, when the stock was 

 strong, as the leading shoot 

 of Firms cembra, or other 

 similar growing Conifera, 

 that the current year's shoot, 

 when about three parts 

 grown, is admirably suited for 

 the purpose ; and also, as in 

 our illustration, when the 

 ! scion has grown to about the 

 length of 2 inches, and with 2 

 inches of last year's wood — 

 which latter is inserted in the 

 young wood of the stock, out- 

 ting the latter quite through 

 the pith to the depth of 14 or 

 2 inches, and securing it in 

 the usual manner. The Pinus 

 cemhra may be objected to by 

 some, on accoimt of its less 

 robust growth ; but the same 

 success has followed when 

 the common spruce, and even the Scotch fir, 

 have been used. 



Grafting coniferous trees is a process had 

 recourse to mainly to multiply the rarer species 

 and varieties of which seeds are difficult to pro- 

 cure. So far as perpetuating some of the rarer 

 species to fill up the blanks in botanical and 

 systematic collections, until others originated 

 from seed can be obtained, we see no great harm 

 in having recourse to this mode of propagation ; 

 but hero the limits of that species of increase 

 should cease. Some have endeavoured to pro- 

 mulgate the theory that grafting has the effect 

 of rendering certain species— those from Mexico, 

 for example, which are too tender to stand our 

 northern climate — more hardy, if wrought on 

 hardy and free-growing stocks ; a doctrine we 

 cannot by any means subscribe to, more than 

 that the same operation would have the effect 

 of causing trees of this order to assume the 

 longevity, size, and fuU development of those 

 originated from seeds. Such, however, is at 

 present the rage for pines, that a glance at the 

 stoclis most fitting for the purpose of grafting 

 may not be considered out of place here. The 

 larch has been long used as a stock for the 

 deodar, on which it takes readily ; but seeds 

 have been so abundantly imported of that mag- 

 nificent tree, as to render both the process of 

 grafting, and striking it from cuttings, obsolete 

 matters. The cedar of Lebanon has been also 

 employed for the same purpose, but the stocks 

 in this case are as valuable as the species to 

 be wrought upon them. The Scotch fir {Pinus 

 sylvesiris} makes a good stock for Pinus BanJc- 

 siana and its congeners. Pinus austriaca (the 

 Austrian pine) is probably the best stock for the 

 majority of the tribe ; it is u free grower, and 

 transplants well, even when of a considerable 

 size. The Weymouth pine (Pinus strohus) has 

 been recommended as a stock for Pinus Lamber- 

 tiana, P. monticola, and those allied to them ; 

 but who would think of choosing as a stock a 

 tree that is by no means adapted to our climate 1 

 -^indeed, so much so, that few good specimens of 



it are to be even met with. The pinaster (Pinus 

 pinaster) is a stock on which Pinus Lemoniana 

 and its allies will take freely and grow rapidly 

 for a time ; but the days of this, as of all other 

 grafted pines, are few, compared with those ori- 

 ginated from seed. The spruce fir forms the 

 general stock for the section of Abies ; while 

 Jwniperus Virgimiana (the red cedar) is suitable 

 to the whole of the free-growing junipers, and 

 manyof the cypresses also ; and the common yew 

 to the whole genus Taxus : the more delicate 

 species, however, will succeed better on stocks 

 of the upright or Irish variety. 



Orafting soft-wooded or succulent plants. — The 

 object here is more of an ornamental than of a 

 useful character. The beautiful EpiphyUums 

 truncatum, RusseUianum, &c., are slow-growing 

 plants on their own roots, but become exceed- 

 ingly beautiful when grafted on the tall and 

 stronger-growing species of Cacti, such as Per- 

 eskia, Opuntia, Cereus, &c. The operation is 

 simple, and requires the scions to be taken just 

 as they are beginning their growth : they are 

 inserted in the stocks by simple incision, and 

 secured, for a short time, from falling off by a 

 slight bandage of matting. They are foimd to 

 succeed best when placed in a rather shady place 

 till adhesion takes place. 



Many varieties of pelargonium may also be 

 wrought on the same stock, which, for conserva- 

 tory specimen plants, has a pleasing and rather 

 novel appearance. The cleft mode of grafting 

 is adopted generally on the Continent, choosing 

 the stock and scion of nearly the same size, and 

 placing them under a glass shade ; or if large, in 

 a close somewhat shaded place for a few days. 

 About fifteen days will in general effect a union 

 of the parts. According to a paper in the "Kevue 

 Horticole," it would appear that grafted pelar- 

 gonimns have continued healthy for many years. 



Inarching, or grafting by approach, differs only 

 from most kinds of grafting we have refen-ed to, 

 in having the scion stiU attached to the parent 

 tree, from which it is deriving support until the 

 union with another takes place, when it is 

 separated entirely. Professor Thouin enume- 

 rates thirty-seven varieties of this mode of pro- 

 pagation. These, however, may practically be 

 reduced to two — namely, crown inarching and 

 side inarching, the former having the head 

 cut off at the time of operating, and the latter 

 retaining the head for a time. The spring is 

 the season for performing this operation gene- 

 rally, but any season when the sap is in proper 

 condition, as may be the case in hot-houses, is 

 equally proper. This species of grafting is the 

 only one to be met with in nature, and that 

 only in the case of plants of near propinquity ; 

 it may also have given the first idea of grafting 

 to man. Inarching is productive of the same 

 effects as grafting, in inducing an early dispo- 

 sition to frait-bearing ; it is also applicable to 

 plants that are difficult to propagate by other 

 means. 



Method of performance. — For this purpose it 

 is necessary that the plants to form both the 

 stock and scion should be either growing near 

 to each other, or, if in a portable state, placed 

 BO that their branches may meet. A portion of 



