maximum of activity^ forming wood tissue from its inner 

 surface and bark from its outer surface. At this time of 

 maximum growth^ wounds are rapidly healed^ and union 

 between a cion and stock is most rapidly secured. Nursery- 

 men and fruit growers take advantage of this fact. 



The most gratifying results almost always follow spring 

 grafting or summer budding. It is necessary, however^ that 

 there should be activity enough in the sap movement to 

 form the cellular connection between the stock and the bud 

 before the latter perishes from drying out; sap flow is also 

 necessary to allow the bark to be lifted readily from the 

 cambium for the insertion of buds. 



The best success usually follows the /grafting of mature^ 

 or nearly mature^ buds in the case of trees and shrubs; 

 though young tender buds often thrive nearly as well. 



The More Common Methods 



The best and quickest way to graft young seedlings is 

 by '*side'' grafting. This graft is made by taking a piece 

 of the new wood from the tree to be multiplied^ about 2 V2 

 inches long^ with well-formed buds on it. Slice off both 

 sides of the lower end of the graft in the form of a sloping 

 wedge, the cuts on each side being not much over one inch 

 long. Both sides should be alike, but one of the edges 

 should be thicker than the other. 



The tree to be grafted is bent to one side with the left 

 hand. With the right hand a sloping gash is made down- 

 ward on one side of the tree just above the ground, and the 

 graft, described above, is pushed down into this cut as far 

 as it will go. The cambium layers of the cion and seedling 

 meet at some point, and a union with the tree is formed. 

 After the cion has been placed, the tree is allowed to spring 

 back to its upright position, and is at once cut off with a 

 pair of pruning shears, about two inches above the graft. 



In grafting cions on the branches of trees, as in trans- 

 forming large trees or whole orchards, the so-called ''cleft" 

 graft is usually employed. In preparing for this, the 

 branch of the stock tree is sawed off at a convenient place, 

 the exact position being determined by the character of the 

 experiment. If v/e are seeking to make a permanent tree, 

 the graft is implanted upon the limb not more than a foot 



12 



