THE PLEASANT ART OF GRAFTING 81 



apples and even pears (for I had pears in that tree) each 

 with the marks and flavor proper to its kind. The little 

 cions I grafted into the tree were soon lost in the over- 

 growthg, and yet all the branches that came from them 

 carried the genius of one single variety and of none 

 other. And I often speculated whether there were any 

 reflex action of these many varieties on the root, de- 

 manding a certain kind of service from it. 



The cions (sometimes still called "grafts") are cut 

 in winter or early spring, when well matured and per- 

 fectly dormant. Placed in sand in a cool cellar so they 

 will not shrivel, they are kept until grafting time, which 

 is early spring, usually before the leaves start on the 

 stock. The cions may be placed on the tree by several 

 methods, but only two are commonly employed, — the 

 whip-graft and the cleft-graft. The former is adapted 

 to small stocks, the size of one's finger or smaller; it is 

 the method employed in root-grafting in the nursery, 

 and Fig. 16 explains it. 



The requirement is to cause the cion and stock to 

 grow together solidly, making one piece of wood. The 

 growing plastic region is associated with the cambium 

 tissues underneath the bark. It is necessary, therefore, 

 to bring the "line betwixt the wood and the bark" to- 

 gether in the two parts, and to hold the junction firm 

 and also well protected from evaporation until union 

 takes place. The method of putting the parts together, 

 the form of whittling, is a matter of convenience and 

 practice. 



The case was put in this way by old Robert Shar- 

 rock, "Fellow of New-College," in his "History of the 

 Propagation and Improvement of Vegetables by the con- 



