NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



stuck in place, sometimes three or even four 

 to a single branch, the pot of melted wax is 

 lifted up, the branch end and the graft are 

 thickly spread with it, a white cloth is wound 

 about the joint — the union is complete; and 

 rapidly the sap of the old tree begins sending 

 its life-forces up through the new life growing 

 upon it. The graft grows on and on until it is 

 two or possibly three seasons old; then it puts 

 out its own buds and flowers, bears its own 

 fruit, wholly different it may be from any 

 other fruit growing upon the other branches. 



The union of the graft and the parent tree 

 will not be complete unless the cambium of 

 the two is merged. This cambium is a layer of 

 viscid, mucilaginous substance composed of 

 cells, lying between the bark and the wood 

 of the tree and from which both derive their 

 growth. Mr. Burbank calls it a predigested 

 food, for the nourishment of the new graft. 



Sometimes the workman makes a long 

 slanting cut instead of cutting the branch off 

 square and makes a similar cut in the graft. 

 Two slits are then made in each, and the 

 tongues of the graft thus formed are forced 

 down into the slits of the branch. 



254 



