146 



FRUITS. 



[chap. 



to which they apply, and the reader already knows how to raise 

 stocks from layers, because it is done in just the same manner as 

 when the layer is intended to be a tree to bear fruit without bud- 

 ding or grafting. I cannot dismiss this part of the subject without 

 exhorting the reader never to make use of suckers as stocks : by a 

 very little additional care you obtain seedling stocks ; and really 

 if a man have not the trifling portion of industry that is here re- 

 quired, he is unworthy of the good fruit and the abundant crops 

 which, With proper management, he may generally make himself 

 sure of. 



207. GRAFTING.— When I come to the alphabetical list of 

 fruits, I shall speak of those circumstances connected with grafting 

 in which one sort of fruit differs from another ; but the mode of 

 performing the operation of grafting, and the mode of doing other 

 things relative to the stock and the scion, are the same in all cases, 

 therefore I shall in this place give the instructions necessary for a 

 knowledge of the arts of grafting and budding. There is another 

 thing, too, which is equally applicable in all cases, and w'hich ought 

 to be mentioned before I enter upon the subject of grafting and 

 budding ; and that is this, that the stock ought to stand one whole 

 summer upon the spot where it is grafted or budded before that 

 operation is performed ii|.on it. If stocks be planted out in the 

 fall, the sap does not rise vigorously enough in the spring to afford 

 a fair chance for the growing of the graft ; but another remark of 

 equal importance is that fruit-trees should stand only one summer 

 on the spot whence they are to be removed to their final destina- 

 tion, because if they stand longer than this, they will have large 

 and long roots, great amputations must take place, and the tree 

 suffer exceedingly. 



208. Grafting is the joining of a cutting of one to another tree 

 in such a way as that the tree on which the cutting is placed sends 

 up its sap into the cutting y and makes it grow and become a tree. 

 When a cutting is thus applied it is called a scion. Certain stocks 

 have been found to be suited to certain scions, but these will be 

 particularly mentioned hereafter in the articles treating of the re- 

 spective kinds of fruit. It is best that I confine myself here, as 

 much as possible, to instructions as to the time of grafting, the 

 mode of preparing the scion, the mode of performing the operation 

 of grafting, and lastly to the treatment of the plant grafted. The 

 time of grafting is, generally, from the beginning of February to 



