6 



THE AET 0? 



growth cannot be established between the stock and the graft. 

 Then follow weakness and disease — disagreeable results. The 

 reverse of this, to have the graft more vigorous than the stock, 

 is more admissible. The pear-tree on the quince, the apple on 

 the paradise, the cherry on the Mahaleb, give us proofs of this. 

 The tree will be less vigorous than if perfect harmony existed 

 between the two parts, and, its growth being thus tempered, 

 it tends more to the production of fruit. Very great differ- 

 ences in the matter of vigour may be lessened by means of 

 double grafting, in which we first graft on the stock a variety 

 of intermediate vigour, and on this, later on, we graft the 

 variety which we desire to propagate. The stock should 

 always be strong enough to receive the graft. If it is weakly, 

 although the graft will unite with it, the future tree will 

 always be tender. Stocks that have been planted a year at 

 least should employed. The number of the grafts on each 

 stock should be in proportion to its vigour, so as to obtain the 

 favourable results which will follow from the exact adjustment 

 of the powers of vegetation. Sometimes grafting is success- 

 fully performed, during the repose of the sap, on stocks taken 

 up out of the soil, which are replanted immediately after 

 grafting. The graft-, on its part, should come from a pure 

 source. The tree which furnishes it should be healthy, if it is 

 desired to transmit health and hardiness. In the raising of 

 plants, it is easier to prevent than to cure disease. The 

 degeneration — more apparent than real — of species and varie- 

 ties is especially due to the selection of bad subjects for 

 propagation. The parent plant or tree which furnishes the 

 scions should always be of a strong healthy constitution. 

 Intimate Union of the two Parts. 

 In every kind of grafting it is indispensable that the two- 

 parts grafted should be in close communication, not by means 

 of the epidermis or the pith, but through the generating layers 



