12 



CASSELL'S POPULAK GARDEN! XG. 



inflicted by grubs, &c. ; and Mr. Burbidge found 

 that on attempting to strike a cutting of a species of 

 tuber-bearing Solanum, the result was the formation 

 of a tuber in the axil of the leaf of the cutting. 



The operations of budding and grafting depend on 

 the successful removal and implantation of a bud or 

 a shoot from one plant on to another. In these 

 cases the transferred buds feed upon the food in the 

 stock to wbich they are transferred, instead of that 

 in the soil from which detached buds derive their 

 sustenance. 



Cuttings or Slips. — These consist essentially 

 of one or more buds or " eyes " carefully detached 

 from the parent plant and induced to " strike," that 

 is, to form roots. The method of making these 

 cuttings and inducing them to strike varies in 

 detail according to the particular plant. While in 

 some cases, as in the Willow, all that is necessary 

 is to stick a slip into moist ground without other 

 care, in others all the skill and devices of the gar- 

 dener fail to produce the desired result. Leading 

 practical details to be dealt with in other sections, 

 it is here sufficient to say in general terms that the 

 conditions for the successful striking of cuttings are 

 essentially the same as those already mentioned in 

 the case of the germination of the seed. Previous to 

 the production of roots, especially if there be not a 

 supply of food-stuff in the bark of the cutting, a 

 swelling is formed at the end of the cutting, called 

 by gardeners the *' callus." This consists of an outer 

 layer of cork«cells, which serves to heal over and 

 protect the wounded surface. Beneath it is a mass 

 consisting of cells which divide and subdivide with 

 rapidity, and in which starch and other building 

 material is rapidly accumulated. This must be 

 transfcired from the upper parts of the cutting or 

 from its bark, as it is hardly likely that it can be 

 formed to any extent by the leaves on the cutting 

 itself, though that possibility furnishes a justifica- 

 tion for the practice of retaining the leaves on the 

 cuttings. Be this as it may, from the callus speedily 

 protrude fine fibrous roots and root-hairs, and when 

 tbese are fairly developed, the young plant becoii:ies 

 established. 



The regulation of heat, the moisture, the shading 

 from too fierce light, the prevention of undue 

 evaporation, all points of cardinal importance in the 

 raising of cuttings, are matters the necessity for 

 which is easily understood from what has been said 

 of the mode of growth of seeds and roots. It may 

 be well, however, to say that " damping-off " and 

 other mishaps often arise from over- care: the cutting 

 is kept in too damp an atmosphere, so that it cannot 

 transpire freely, or the stimulant effect of light is 

 too long withheld. 



Budding, In - arching, Grafting. — The 



practice of budding has been already described in 

 the case of the Rose, and demands no further no- 

 tice here. Grafting differs from budding merely in. 

 the fact that the scion," instead of being a single 

 bud or eye, is a shoot with several eyes. The prac- 

 tical details of the process have been given elsewhere 

 Here it is only necessary to say that the contact must 

 be complete, bark to bark, wood to wood, so that tlie 

 growing tissues of the scion and of the stock respec- 

 tively may be in contact, that it must be effected at 

 the right season, and that there must be a clo»e 

 family relationship between the plant producing the 

 scion and the stock respectively. The old stories 

 of Apples growing on Plane-trees, of Pear-blossoms 

 adorning the Ash, are mj-ths or misrepresentations. 

 The Pear will engraft on the Quince and Hawthorn, 

 the Peach on the Plum, the Orange on the Lemon, 

 and so forth, but in all these cases the affinity is close : 

 nevertheless, close relationship is not the only requisite 

 condition, for, as Mr. Barron tells us, some Peaches, 

 such as Grosse Mignonne and Bellegarde, will take 

 freely on the Brussels Plum-stock, but not on the 

 Mussel. Damsons will not graft well on the Plum. 

 Most Pears will succeed on the Quince, but INIarie 

 Louise will not do so. The records of grafting are 

 full of apparent anomalies of this kind, which cannot 

 at present be explained. 



The object of budding and grafting is to secui'e the 

 multij)lication of any variety with greater celerity and 

 certainty than could otherwise be done. It is pos- 

 sible by this means to secure flowers and fruit of 

 the particular variety desired much sooner than if it 

 were raised from seed or from cuttings. Again, some 

 plants will succeed when grafted on a hardier stock, 

 but fail to gi'ow, or succumb to frost or other injury, 

 when on their own roots. The large use of American 

 Vine stocks whereon to engraft the French Grapes 

 in the Phylloxera -infested districts of France depends 

 on this fact. The American Vines are subject to the 

 attacks of the Phylloxera, but take little harm from 

 them, while the more susceptible roots of the French 

 Grapes are destroyed by the insect. 



Influence of tlie Stock on the Scion.— 



At one time it was stated that no influence was 

 exerted by the stock on the scion, or by the scion on 

 the stock, except of a physiological nature ; but 

 although it most frequently happens that no change 

 is obvious, the characters of the stocfk and of the scion 

 respectively remaining apparently unchanged, yet it 

 is unquestionable that changes of constitution, and 

 sometimes of outward form, do occur.. We have 

 already spoken of the increased hardihood conferred 

 on the scion in some cases by working it on a hardier 

 stock, as when Cypressus macrocarpa is grafted on 



