240 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



be drawn up over the graft. This preserves the 

 moisture in the clay, and consequently prevents 

 the scion from being dried up before it unites, 

 so as to drive sap from the stock. Failing this, 

 the clay round the graft should be covered with 

 moss, the latter being secured with matting, and 

 kept moist in dry weather. 



The scion usually pushes but slowly for some 

 considerable time after it has been grafted; and 

 whilst that is the case, there is little danger of 

 the ligature becoming too tight. But when fairly 

 united, the clay must be moistened and removed, 

 and the tie loosened. It is frequently advisable 

 to retie the graft less tightly; for the tissue at 

 the junction will scarcely be adapted for with- 

 standing exposure, and it will not have formed 

 woody fibre enough to resist the action of the 

 wind. 



2. Saddle -grafting. — This is represented by 

 fig. 299. It cannot be well performed except 

 when the stock and scion are of nearly equal 

 thickness. The stock A is cut sloping on both 

 sides, like a wedge, terminating at c. The scion 

 B is split up the centre, and each half is thinned 

 to make it fit astride the wedge-like end of the 

 stock. A thin narrow-bladed 

 knife should be employed for 

 this purpose. The inner bark 

 of the scion and stock having 

 been made to coincide as 

 nearly as possible, the parts 

 should be secured by a liga- 

 ture, and covered with some 

 grafting composition. 



This mode of grafting is 

 open to some objections. Un- 

 less the scion is cut out with- 

 out splitting, there must be 

 a rent, as from c to d, which 

 will never unite, and is even 

 liable to open and form a 

 blemish. The operation re- 

 quires more time to perform 

 than whip-grafting; and, as already observed, 

 it cannot be well employed unless the stock is 

 nearly of the same size as the scion. 



3. Cleft-grafting (fig. 300) is a common mode 

 in some parts of the country, but it is neverthe- 

 less a very objectionable one. The stock is cleft 

 with a chisel, or other instrument, at a ; and the 

 cleft is kept open till the scion is inserted. The 

 scion is cut wedge-shaped, and inserted in the 

 cleft, so that the inner barks may coincide. It 

 is then covered with one or other of the grafting 

 compositions, generally grafting-clay when the 

 stock is large. In preparing the scion for inser- 



Fig. 299.— Saddle-grafting. 



Fig. 300. -Cleft-grafting. 



tion, it is cut tapering towards the lower end, 

 and made thin at the side intended to be placed 

 towards the interior of the stock. There should 

 be no bark left upon the 

 inserted part of the scion, 

 except that on the outside; 

 for, if any were left on the 

 opposite or interior part, the 

 sap descending by the inner 

 bark of that part would find 

 no substance with which it 

 could unite. When the 

 stock is thick, and requires 

 considerable force to keep 

 the cleft open, it is apt to 

 pinch and bruise the inner 

 bark of the scion, next the 

 outside, if it is thinned with 

 a straight slope from the 

 back to the edge; for in 

 that case, the whole of the pressure would be 

 upon the part next the bark. The section of 

 the scion should not be like a triangle, b (fig. 

 300), but like half an oval, c. 



Occasionally when a large stem or limb is cleft- 

 grafted, two scions are inserted, one as repre- 

 sented in fig. 300, and another opposite to it, in 

 the end of the cleft next to a. In some cases the 

 stock has been cleft across, and again transversely, 

 so that four scions might be inserted. But cleft- 

 grafting is a bad mode. It will be observed 

 that there is an opening which extends from the 

 insertion of the scion to the opposite side of the 

 stock at a. This rent in the solid wood can never 

 heal so as to be again solid. Instead of splitting 

 the stock, it would be better to cut out a trian- 

 gular groove in the side, and in that fit the scion, 

 so that the inner barks might correspond, as in 

 fig. 302. This last-mentioned plan is useful for 

 renovating large fruit-trees by grafting upon the 

 decapitated trunk or branches superior varieties. 

 As a rule, however, it is better to replace such 

 trees with plants from the nursery. 



4. Croicn or Rind Grafting (fig. 303) is much 

 to be preferred to cleft-grafting, inasmuch as the 

 wood of the stock is not rendered unsound by 

 cleaving. It is easily performed; the lower end 

 of the scion is cut sloping, as in whip-grafting; 

 the head of the stock is cut over horizontally, and 

 a slit a is made just through the inner bark. A 

 piece of wood, bone, or ivory, in shape somewhat 

 resembling the thinned end of the scion, is intro- 

 duced at the top of the slit, between the alburnum 

 and inner bark, and pushed down in order to 

 raise the bark, so that the thinned end of the 

 scion may be introduced without being bruised. 



