PROPAGATION. 



253 



cut out so as to fit saddle-fashion on to the wedge- 

 like end of the stock (Fig. 20). After tying and pro- 

 tecting with clay in the usual manner, the operation 

 is complete. Knight succeeded in grafting the 

 slender shoots of the Elm and Cherry hy this 

 method, when they would have been too slender or 

 too immature to form a union by splice-grafting. 



Cleft-grafting is more or less employed in some 

 parts of the country, especially in orchards. Old 

 trees are headed down for the purpose of being re- 

 grafted, and their stems or branches are split verti- 

 cally with some sharp instrument. The grafts have 

 their ends cut wedge-fashion to fit into these slits, 

 and a number of them may be inserted in the same 



Fig 21.— Improved Cleft-grafting. 



branch according to its size, and fitted around the 

 circumference, so that the cambium of the stock 

 and graft may coincide. This mode of grafting, 

 however, is liable to serious objections, inasmuch as 

 the split wood never heals, and is liable to de- 

 cay. A great improvement on this method is to cut 

 a triangular notch, c, along the side of the stem, n, 

 into which a correspondingly prepared scion, a, should 

 be fitted, instead of splitting (Fig. 21). 



In Rind-grafting the bark is slit down vertically 

 and raised by the thin end of a budding-knife or 

 some similar instrument, while the previously pre- 

 pared and thinly-cut scion is gently slid down be- 

 neath the bark, taking due precaution not to injure 

 the tissues of the parts operated upon (Fig. 22). 

 A number of scions may be inserted upon a large 

 branch, which will accelerate the healing of the cut 

 end. Whip- grafting is, however, superior to rind- 

 grafting for this purpose. 



Side-grafting is only a convenient term applied 

 to whip-grafting, when employed to furnish a tree 

 with side branches in places where these are naturally 

 deficient. The importance of this may be realised 

 by the gardener when training young trees in- 

 differently or even badly furnished with buds in 

 proper positions. Old trees may also be grafted at 

 the base of their branches, and young wood trained 

 in at some considerable length before the old is 

 cut away. (See Branch-grafting of Pears.) 



Herbaceous Grafting is applied to the grafting 

 of stems while still soft and in a growing condition. 



Fig. 22. — Bind-graftiug. 



It is performed when growing shoots have attained 

 that degree of hardness which will allow them to be 

 operated upon without decorticating, or otherwise 

 bruising the tender tissues. An oblique cut should 

 be made in a downward direction at a point where 

 this degree of hardness has been attained, and if 

 close to the base of a leaf the certainty of success 

 will be considerably enhanced, as the greater degree 

 of vitality at that point will contribute to the earlier 

 healing of the wound; the leaf elaborating con- 

 structive material that will hasten the union of 

 stock and scion. The graft, moreover, should be 

 of the same age and thickness as the stock, and 

 should be inserted as quickly as possible after 

 cutting it to fit the incision. The whole must then 

 be bound together with some soft material. After a 

 few days, whatever leaves may be on the stock above 

 the graft should be gradually removed to direct the 

 sap into the scion. Loosen the ligatures in time 

 to prevent damage to the swelling tissues. 



