GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 



3 



plant, or rather fragment of plant, grafted on another preserves 

 Its original qualities and characteristic properties. It will 

 produce branches close or spreading, leaves purple or silvery, 

 flowers white or rose-coloured, fruit large or small, early or 

 late, exactly resembling the variety from which it was taken, 

 and without being influenced by the neighbourhood of, or 

 contact with, several similar kinds grouped on the same stock. 

 "We could also quote instances of plants which, when grafted, 

 grow more vigorously than when on their own roots. When 

 it is considered that grafting is easy to be practised, that it 

 involves only a trifling degree of bodily exertion, and developes 

 a love for gardening, it will be allowed that it is both a useful 

 .and an agreeable operation. 



CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS. 



In grafting, a great deal of the success depends on the skill 

 of the operator. The other conditions essential to success are 

 affinity between the species, vigour of the stock and graft, the 

 condition of their sap, their intimate union, the season, and 

 temperature. 



Affinity hehveen Species. 

 The laws of the affinities of species are almost unknown. 

 The observations hitherto made have been undertaken in a 

 practical rather than a purely scientific spirit, as in the 

 fertilizing of plants. The results obtained up to the present 

 can only be regarded as a matter of fact. jSTo theory has as 

 yet been deduced from them, except that kinds to be unite/ 

 by grafting must be of the same botanic family. 



For instance, the peach and the apricot are grafted on each 

 I other with difficulty, while both do well on the almond-tree 

 and the plum-tree. All the cherries unite with the Mahaleb ; 

 but it will not succeed as a graft on any of the cherries. The 

 sweet chestnut prospers on the oak; but will not do so if 



B 2, 



