16 



PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. 



CHAPTER III. 



PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES — GRAFTING BUDDING CUTTINGS, LAYERS, 



AND SUCKERS. 



After having obtained a new and choice kind of fruit, which in onr 

 hands is perhaps only a single tree, and which, as we have ah-eady shown, 

 seldom produces the same from seed, the next inquiry is how to continue 

 this variety in existence, and how to increase and extend it, so that other 

 gardens and countries may possess it as well as ourselves. This leads us 

 to the subject of the propagation of fruit-trees, or the continuation of 

 varieties by grafting and budding. 



Grafting and budding are the means in most common use for pro- 

 pagating fruit-trees. They are, in fact, nothing more than inserting 

 upon one tree the shoot or bud of another, in such a manner that the 

 two may imite and form a new compound, l^o person having any inte- 

 rest in a garden should be unable to perform these operations, as they are 

 capable of effecting transformations and improvements in all trees and 

 shrubs, no less valuable than they are beautiful and interesting. 



Grafting is a very ancient invention, having been well known and 

 practised by the Greeks and Romans. The latter, indeed, describe a 

 great variety of modes, quite as ingenious as any of the fanciful varia- 

 tions now used by gardeners. The French, who are most expert in 

 grafting, practise occasionally more than fifty modes, and within a few 

 years have succeeded perfectly in grafting annual plants, such as the 

 tomato, the dahlia, and the like. 



The uses of grafting and budding, as applied to fruit-trees, may be 

 briefly stated as follows : 



1. The rapid increase of propagation of valuable sorts of frmt not 

 easily raised by seeds or cuttings, as is the case \^ith nearly all varieties. 



2. To renew or alter the heads of trees partially or fully grown, pro- 

 ducing in two or three years, by heading-in and grafting, a new head, 

 bearing the finest fruit, on a formerly worthless tree. 



3. To render certain foreign and delicate sorts of fruit more hardy by 

 grafting them on robust stocks of the same species native to the country, 

 as the foreign grape on the native ; and to produce fine fruit in climates 

 or situations not naturally favorable, by grafting on another species more 

 hardy, as in a cool climate and damp strong soil by working the Peach 

 on the Plum. 



4. To render dwarf certain kinds of fruit, by grafting them on suit- 

 able stocks of slower growth, as in the case of the Pear on the Quince, 

 the Apple on the Paradise stock, &c. 



5. By grafting several kinds on the same tree, to be able to have a 

 succession of fruit, from early to late, in a small garden. 



6. To hasten the bearing of seedling varieties of fruit, or of such as 

 are a long time in producing fruit, by grafting them on the branches of 

 full-grown or mature bearing trees. Thus a seedling pear, which would 

 not produce fruit on its own root in a dozen years, will generally begin 

 to bear the third or fourth year if grafted on the extremiry of the bear- 

 ing branches of a mature tree. 



The proper time for grafting fruit-trees is in the spring, as soon as 

 the sap is in motion, which commences earliest with the Cherry and 



