EFFECT OF GRAFTING ON FEUITS. 323 



Grasses 13 to 45 days. 



Easpterry, Strawberry, Cherry 2 months. 



Bird-cherry, Lime-tree . . . . . , 3 ,, 

 Roses, White-thorn, Horse-chestnut . . . . 4 ,, 

 Vine, Pear, Apple, Walnut, Beech, Plum, Nut, Almond, 5 to 6 , , 



Olive, Savin 7 ,, 



Colohicum, Mistleto 8 to 9 ,, 



Many Conifers 10 to 12 ,, 



Some Coniferae, certain species of Oak, Metrosideros, ahove 12 ,, 



The ripening of fruit may be accelerated by the application of heat, 

 by placing dark-coloured bricks below it, and by removing a ring of 

 bark so as to lead to an accumulation of sap. It has been observed 

 that plants subjected to a high temperature not unfrequently prove 

 abortive, ■which seems to result from the over-stimulation causing the 

 production of unisexual flowers alone. Trees are sometimes made to 

 produce fruit by checking their roots when too luxuriant, and by 

 preventing the excessive development of branches. 



Geafting. — A very important benefit is produced, both as regards 

 the period of fruiting and the quality of the fruit, by the process of 

 grafting. This is accomplished by taking a young twig or scion, 

 called a graft, and causing it to unite to a vigorous stem or stock, thus 

 enabling it to derive a larger supply of nutritive matter than it could 

 otherwise obtain, and checking its vegetative powers. In place of a 

 slip or cutting, a bud is sometimes taken. In order that grafting 

 may be successfully performed, there must be an aflBnity between the 

 graft and the stock as regards their sap, etc. It has often been sup- 

 posed that any kinds of plants may be grafted together, and instances 

 are mentioned by Virgil and Pliny, where different fruits are said to 

 have been borne on the same stock.. This was probably produced by 

 what the French call greffe des charlatans, — cutting down a tree within 

 a short distance of the ground, and then hollowing out the stump, and 

 planting within it several young trees of different species ; in a few 

 years they grow up together so as to fill up the cavity, and appear to 

 be one. The deception is kept up better if some buds of the parent 

 stock have been kept alive. Fortune gives an instance in the Punjaub 

 of a Peach growing out of an old Mango tree about six or eight feet 

 from the ground. In this case the Peach had its roots in the ground, 

 and had grown through the hollow stem of the Mango. In India the 

 Peepul tree (Ficus religiosa) occasionally grows on the stumps of other 

 trees, and sends its roots down so as to cover the stump completely, 

 and thus presents the appearance of two kinds of trees growing from 

 one root. By grafting the branches of hedge plants together good 

 fences are occasionally formed (see drawing of such hedges and trees, 

 Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin., vol. x. p. 452). 



The object which gardeners wish to secure by grafting, is the 

 improvement of the kinds of fruit, the perpetuation of good varieties, 



