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GRAFTING. 



The usual method of propagating our fruit trees and 

 even many of those trees which we plant solely for orna- 

 ment is by grafting. Grafting is the joining of a certain 

 part of one plant to some portion of another plant in such 

 a way that their cambium layers unite. For example, if 

 we are propagating the apple, young plants (seedlings) 

 are grown, the roots of which are used as the stock or 

 base. To this stock we unite a part of a twig (here called 

 cion) which is taken from a tree of that variety which we 

 wish to multiply. The stock may be one year old, and 

 is dug in the fall after the leaves have fallen, and packed 

 away in a very cool cellar and prevented from drying out 

 by a covering of moss or sand. In January and Febru- 

 ary, the months in which grafting is usually done, these 

 young seedlings are cut off at the crown and the roots 

 divided into pieces three or four inches long. (The crown 

 of these seedlings is the part where the stem issues from 

 the surface of the ground.) These pieces of root should 

 be joined to the cion in the manner described later. 



' The cion is a portion of a twig four or five inches 

 long and containing two or three buds. These twigs are 

 cut from the trees in the fall or winter months before 

 hard freezing weather sets in, and may be stored in a 

 cool cellar in the same way as the stocks. There are many 

 ways of joining the cion to the stock but most nursery- 

 men prefer the method called whip ' grafting. A long, 

 slanting cut is made on the stock and a corresponding 

 one on the cion. Each of these cut surfaces is split so 

 that in putting the two together they are a little dove- 

 tailed. In making this union care should be taken that 

 the inner bark of the stock and cion unite on one side at 

 least and they should be held in this position by a band- 



