The four best systems. Reading from the left, they are saddle 

 grafting: cleft grafting: side grafting: whip grafting 



Grafting and Budding 

 for the Amateur 



Whip grafting, the commonest way. On 

 the left the graft has been tied and waxed 



THE average amateur looks upon the 

 process of grafting with wonder and 

 admiration, as something that is apart 

 from him, and only for a specially trained 

 specialist. As a matter of fact, I know of 

 no branch of the gentle art of gardening 

 that offers more fascination as a recreation 

 to the busy man, for there is no arduous 

 labor involved and the interest in achieve- 

 ment is keen. It is work for the special- 

 ist if speed is a consideration, but other- 

 wise it merely needs the attention to 

 detail that can be given by any intelligent 

 person. 



Grafting (and budding is essentially the 

 same), is the transferring of a small 

 part of the top of one plant to another's 

 roots and in such a way that the live tissues 

 just under the bark in each case are brought 

 into close contact. That's the place of 

 union, and the only one. 



The reasons for grafting, or budding, 

 may be many. Certain varieties of 

 fruits, for example, bear better when graft- 

 ed on to some stock which retards their 

 own rank growth of wood and throws this 

 energy into fruit production; on the other 

 hand, it may be desirable, in some cases, 

 to graft on to a stock with an extensive 

 root system to induce rank growth. Graft- 

 ing offers one means of restoring to vigor 

 old orchards, by working over the old tops 

 to newer and better varieties of more recent 

 introductions. To the nursery-man graft- 

 ing is a necessity, as it enables him to more 

 quickly work up a stock of some new or 

 desirable sort; he can cut up into many 

 pieces the growth of his one specimen and 

 get each piece to grow as a separate plant 

 by joining it to the roots of an allied, but 

 inferior, variety. Thus he sows apple 

 seeds and grafts the seedlings with cions 

 taken from a selected tree of known quality. 

 All the named kinds of our orchard fruits 

 are thus propagated. His seedlings would 



By W. C. McCollom, 



Long 

 Island 



be a much mixed lot of unknown, and 

 most likely undesirable crabs. 



Trees and shrubs which are sometimes 

 not hardy enough to stand winters in 

 some locations can be made to endure 

 by grafting on some stock with a hardier 

 root system. A great many novel (and 

 freak) forms can be had by grafting. The 

 "tree" rose and all other "standards" of 

 strange forms, the Camperdown elm, the 

 weeping mulberry, etc. 



You cannot graft trees and shurbs indis- 

 criminately, however. The stock and cion 

 must have a natural relationship. In other 

 words, you cannot graft an apple on a 

 maple tree, but we can (and do) graft a 

 pear on the quince, to keep it dwarf; a 

 peach on the plum, to gain hardiness; and 

 lilac on privet, because it is an easy way 

 to increase a stock, and privet is cheap. 



The amateur, by grafting, may enrich 

 his collection of varieties and keep right 

 up to date; any one will exchange cuttings 

 with you. 



There are several well recognized methods 

 of grafting employed, each one having its 

 good and bad points and each one its special 



Cleft grafting, after the wax has been 

 poured on the grafts 



Oleft grafting. The stock should be about two 

 inches in diameter. Use a sharp knife or chisel 



251 



advocates. But the condition of the plant 

 is, after all, more important. The one to 

 be used as the stock must be healthy and 

 vigorous. It need not necessarily be a 

 rank, heavy grower, but it must be in good 

 health, because the cions must gather from 

 it what nutrition is necessary for their up- 

 keep until a union is established. Always 

 graft with a purpose in view. You can 

 graft six different apples on one tree, if 

 you must, but in the long run it will not 

 be for the best because of the different 

 periods of ripening. Better have six dif- 

 ferent dwarfs of the kind described in last 

 month's Garden Magazine. 



The time of year when the grafting is 

 done is important; spring is preferable for 

 all ordinary work. The proper time is 

 immediately before growth starts (with me 

 that is April ist to 15th). I have known it 

 done earlier and while the advocates of 

 such early work claim that the graft gets 

 a better start, there is also the danger of 

 the wood shriveling because of drying 

 winds and the limited amount of sap avail- 

 able. Watch the condition of the tree to 

 be grafted and graft just as the buds start 

 to swell. The flow of sap is then good and 

 strong, and a quick union will result. Bud- 

 ding can be done at almost any time when 

 good mature buds are available, there 

 being so little necessary for the upkeep of 

 the bud. But, even so, spring and early fall 

 (September) are the accepted time. 



Grafting and budding in the greenhouse 

 can be done at any time of the year because 

 it is possible to give each plant separate 

 treatment and the conditions that are 

 essential; but in all cases mature wood, 

 which has been retarded, must be used, 

 or in other words, the stock must be farther 

 advanced in growth than the cion. 



In selecting the cions select stock that is 

 a good average size and healthy. The wood 

 should not be abnormal in any way; if so, 



