GRAFTING. V3 
securely united, also the bandage; and the angle left at the top 
. of the stock, a, should now be cut off smoothly, in order to allow 
the bark of the stock and the scion to heal neatly over the whole 
wound. 
Though it is little attended to in common practice, the ama- 
teur will be glad to know that the success of a graft is always 
greatly insured by choosing the parts so that'a bud is left near 
the top of the stock, &, and another near the bottom of the scion, Z, 
These buds attract the rising sap to the portions where they are 
placed, form woody matter, and greatly facilitate the union of the 
parts near them; the upper part of the stock, and the lower part 
of the scion, being the portions soonest liable to perish from a 
want of nourishment.* , 
Cleft grafting is a very easy though rather clumsy mode, and 
is in more common use than any other in the United States. Itis 
chiefly practised on large stocks, or trees the branches of which 
have been headed back, and are too large for tongue-grafting. 
} The head of the stock is first cut over horizontally 
with the saw, and smoothed with a knife. A cleft 
about two inches deep is then made in the stock with 
a hammer and splitting-knife. The scion is now 
prepared, by sloping its lower end in the form of 
a wedge about an inch and a half long, leaving it a 
little thicker on the.outer edge. Opening the cleft 
with the splitting-knife, or a small chisel for that 
purpose, push the scion carefully down to its place, 
fitting its inner bark on one side to that of one 
side of the stock. ‘When the stock is large, it is 
usual to insert two scions, Fig. 4. .On withdraw- 
ing the chisel, the cleft closes firmly on the scions, when the 
graft is tied and clayed in the usual manner. | bes 
Apple stocks in many American nurseries, are grafted in 
great quantities in this mode—the stocks being previously taken 
out of the ground, headed down very near the root, cleft grafted 
‘with a single scion, sloping off with an oblique cut the'side of the 
stock opposite that where the graft is placed, and then planted at 
once in the rows so as to allow only a couple of budsof thescion 
to appear above ground. It ig not usual with many, either totie, 
or clay the grafts in this case, as the wound is placed below the 
surface; but when this plan is adopted, the grafts must be set 
* In grafting large quantities of young trees when stocks are scarce, it ig 
not an unusual practice in some nurseries to tongue or whip-graft upon smal] 
pieces of roots of the proper sort of tree, planting the same in the earth as 
soon as grafted. Indeed, Dr. Van Mons considers this the most complete 
of all modes, with regard to the perfect condition of the grafted sort; Ist, 
because the smallest quantity of thestockisused; and 2d, because the lower 
part of the scion being thus placed in the ground, after atime it throws out 
fibres from that portion, and so at last is actually growing on itsown roota 
a 
