GBAFTING 55 



not stripped off at the top, and the top of the stock need not be cut off 

 till after the union has taken place. 



(g) Grafting by Approach or Inarching. — This is rarely practised 

 except on Vines. It consists in bringing the stems of two plants 

 together, cutting away a portion of the bark of each, fitting the cut 

 surfaces together and tying. Here both stock and scion have roots, but 

 the scion is not severed from its parent until it has been completely 

 united to the foreign stock. 



(h) Boot Grafting. — Many plants are grafted on roots of their own 

 or an allied species, chiefly when the sap begins to flow in spring. 

 Unless carefully performed the union will be imperfect and the plants 

 useless after a time. Clematises were and still are grafted in this way, 

 but sooner or later they nearly all die unless the operation is neatly per- 

 formed, and it is therefore better to obtain plants from cuttings or seeds. 



Whichever kind of Grafting is practised, the main point to remember 

 is that the cambium-layers — seated just between the inner bark and the 

 young wood — of both the stock and scion must come in contact with 

 each other. It is useless placing the hard wood of the one against that of 

 the other, as the cells in that portion have long ceased to be in a living 

 state. The cells of the cambium-layer in the stock unite with those 

 in the cambium-layer of the scion, the contents as it were intermix or 

 fuse together by the reciprocal action of the protoplasm (see p. 22), 

 and a union between the two is effected. As plants of the Monoco- 

 tyledonous group have no cambium-layer it naturally follows that they 

 cannot be grafted ; but nothwithstanding this, numerous attempts 

 have been made, and all have failed. 



Selecting the Grafts or Scions. — In selecting a branch for graft- 

 ing due consideration must be given not only to the relationship exist- 

 ing between stock and scion referred to in the preceding paragraph, 

 but care should be taken to select well-ripened shoots of the previous 

 year containing several buds. Attention should also be given to the 

 buds to see that they are leaf-buds and not flower-buds. The main 

 object in grafting being first of all to produce branches, it is obvious that 

 this may be effected more readily by means of shoots having leaf-buds 

 instead of flower-buds. In the various fruit trees described in this 

 work the difference between the wood or leaf-buds and the flower-buds 

 is shown in the illustrations, so that readers may not mistake one for 

 the other. 



When grafting is practised only scions of really choice and fruitful 

 varieties should be selected. The scions should be 6-8 in. long, and are 

 best taken from the side shoots rather than those of the uppermost 

 and strongest growing branches. It is not essential to unite a scion 



