DRAFTING. 



147 



emitted roots of many of them descended a foot or more 

 perpendicularly into the earth, before they divided into any 

 lateral ramifications ; and, as I did not like to replant the 

 young trees, with such an inconvenient length of perpen- 

 dicular root, I cut off about six inches from each. The 

 amputated parts were then accurately fitted and bound, as 

 in splice or whip-grafting^ to scions of pear-trees, which 

 were selected as nearly as possible of the same size ; and 

 the roots, with their attached branches, were deposited in 

 the ground as cuttings, so deep that the whole of the root 

 and about an inch of the scion were covered. The soil 

 was then drawn up with the hoe on each side of the plants, 

 which were placed in rows, so that one bud only of each 

 plant was above the soil, and the other just within it. These 

 grafts succeeded perfectly well ; and I have subsequently 

 repeated the same experiment, with equal success, upon the 

 apple, the plum, and the peach. In the greater part of these 

 experiments, the roots were perfectly cleansed from mould by 

 washing, before they were fitted to the graft, and were then 

 placed in wet moss, till a sufficient number were ready to 

 be carried to the nursery ; a common dibber only was em- 

 ployed in planting them ; but the mould was washed into 

 the holes with water, to close it well round the roots, and 

 to supply the place of the clay, used in other methods of 

 grafting.' — Hort. Trans, vol. i. p. 239. A variation of this 

 mode consists in leaving that part of the tap-root not wanted, 

 with the removed tree, undisturbed in the soil, and grafting 

 on it there. Such root-grafts grow w^ith uncommon 

 vigour." — Loudon, 



The time of the year for performing the above kinds of 

 grafting should be, when the sap of the stock has begun to 

 move, in the spring, and just before the buds are unfolded. 



7. Simmer-grafting, A letter from Abner Landrum to 

 the editor of the American Farmerj contains the following 

 observations on this subject : " About the 1st of July, when 

 the growth of some trees had become stationary, I cut a 

 twig of the pear-tree, and inserted it on a nursery stock, 

 which readily grew off. I next tried almost every variety 

 of orchard fruits, which succeeded perfectly well. I was 

 induced to make this experiment from the rationality of the 

 theory, it having occurred, upon the slightest reflection, that 

 failures in spring-grafting might originate from the dissipa^- 

 tion of moisture by the drying winds peculiar to that season, 

 before the sap of the stock acquires sufficient motion to 

 furnish the graft with due nourishment ; but from the rapid 



