CHAPTER V. 



GRAFTAGE. 



I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



Graftage is rarely employed for the propagation of the 

 species itself, as seedage and cuttage are more expeditious 

 and cheaper. Its chief use is to perpetuate a variety which 

 does not reproduce itself from seeds, and which cannot be 

 economically grown from cuttings. Graftage is always a 

 secondary operation. That is, the root or stock must first 

 be grown from seeds, layers or cuttings, and this stock is 

 then grafted or budded to the desired variety. Graftage is 

 employed in the propagation of every kind of tree fruits in 

 America, and of very many ornamental trees and shrubs, 

 and it is indispensable to the nursery business. It therefore 

 needs to be discussed in considerable detail. 



All the named varieties of tree fruits and many of those 

 of ornamental trees and shrubs are perpetuated by means of 

 graftage. In some species, which present no marked or 

 named varieties, however, jiropagation by seeds or cuttings 

 is for various reasons so difficult or uncertain that recourse 

 must be had to graftage. This is particularly true in many 

 of the firs and spruces, which do not produce seeds to any 

 extent in cultivation. In other cases, graftage is performed 

 for the purpose of producing some radical change in the 

 character or habit of the plant, as in the dwarfing of pears 

 by grafting them upon the quince, and of apples by grafting 

 on the Paradise stock, the elevation of weeping tops by 

 working them upon upright trunks, and the acceleration of 

 fruit-bearing by setting cions in old plants. It is sometimes 



(73) 



