324 



HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



which it only covers : as soon as the new-formed 

 tissue of stock and scion touch each other, a 

 union is then formed." 



The objects of grafting are manifold : these, 

 however, may be divided into three distinct 

 heads — namely, to continue in their original 

 purity, as well as to multiply, by extension of 

 their parts, trees and plants which could not 

 conveniently be otherwise increased ; to acce- 

 lerate the production of fruit and flowers ; and 

 to induce fertility. 



Grafting icith a view to continue the purity of 

 a variety of fruit or flower. — Were we depen- 

 dent entirely for a reproduction of our finest 

 fruits and flowers upon the progeny arising 

 from their seed, our disappointments would 

 be great and frequent, if botanists are cor- 

 rect in their theory that all varieties, how- 

 ever improved they may be compared with 

 the parents from which they originated, whe- 

 ther the intercourse between the flowers was 

 brought about by the agency of man or from 

 accidental causes, have a direct tendency to 

 revert to the type from which they origi- 

 nated : then would all our most choice fruits 

 and flowers revert backwards, if their propa- 

 gation were continued by sowing their seeds. 

 The quality of many seeds is liable to be affected 

 by impregnation, occasioned by the casual intro- 

 duction of the pollen of congenerous plants into 

 the blossom ; arid notwithstanding the greatest 

 care that man can possibly take, a species of ac- 

 cidental intercourse is perpetually going on : so 

 that even were plants capable, in a high-bred 

 state, of continuing themselves in a state of 

 purity, and of reproducing themselves undete- 

 riorated, and supposing such a law did not exist 

 of varieties returning, after a time, to their ori- 

 ginal type, this promiscuous intercourse would 

 be of itself quite sufficient to warrant the adop- 

 tion of propagation by extension, if the object 

 be to maintain the improved variety. Grafting 

 makes us independent of any such chances, as 

 if the graft of a favourite variety or species 

 of either a flowering shrub or fruit-bearing tree 

 be placed on a proper stock, and the usual cul- 

 ture bestowed upon it, it may be continued for 

 ages without showing signs of deterioration. 

 Nay, even many herbaceous plants may be, 

 thanks to M. Tschoudi of Metz, the inventor of 

 this variety of the art, continued in the same 

 manner. The possibility of continuing a variety 

 beyond the natural limit of life allowed to the 

 tree from which it was taken, was doubted by 

 Mr Knight and some others. The majority, 

 however, of botanists, and our highest physio- 

 logical authorities, deny the truth of Knight's 

 views, and contend that a variety may be con- 

 tinued by extension to an almost indefinite pe- 

 riod. Many trees and plants may be readily 

 multiplied by extension, that could not be other- 

 wise increased. By this means, also, we multiply 

 such plants as will scarcely root by cuttings or 

 layers, and rarely produce seeds (if ever) in this 

 country, as well as almost all other trees which 

 contain in themselves only one sex. Willows, 

 poplars, &c. of this class, for the most part root 

 freely by cuttings. All our esteemed fruits are 

 increased by extension in some of its various 



modifications, as are the numerous varieties of 

 variegated leaved, weeping or pendent-branched 

 trees and shrubs, &c. 



Grafting with a view to accelerate the produc- 

 tion of flowers or fruit. — Plants originated di- 

 rectly from seeds are apt to grow luxuriant, and 

 to attain both a considerable size and age before 

 they show a disposition to produce flower-buds. 

 This habit is corrected by removing scions of 

 them, and working them on stocks of the same, 

 or of some nearly allied species, by which pro- 

 cess flowering is accelerated by impeding the 

 descent of the properly elaborated juices of the 

 tree, and inducing the principle of maturation 

 instead of encouraging that of growth. The 

 plant itself may be cut down and grafted with 

 its own branches to produce a like effect. 

 Grafting a young twig upon an old stock has 

 the effect of making it flower earlier than it 

 would otherwise do, in consequence of the 

 accumulation of sap in the old stock becoming 

 beneficial to the twig, and giving a check, at the 

 same time, to its tendency to produce leaves. 

 As an example, if a seedling apple be grafted 

 the second year of its growth on the extremi- 

 ties of a full-grown tree, or even on a stock of 

 five or six years from seed, it will show blossom- 

 buds the second or third year ; whereas, if it 

 had remained ungrafted, it might not have 

 shown such buds for ten or twenty years. It is 

 a usual practice in gardens to take shoots off 

 seedling camellias, rhododendrons, and similar 

 plants, and to graft them on established plants 

 of the same species, and thus we prove their 

 merits several years before the original plants 

 would show symptoms of flowering. 



Grafting with a view to induce fertility. — The 

 laws which govern this part of the vegetable 

 economy are almost identical with those of the 

 preceding. Mr Knight observes, that the effects 

 produced by grafting " are similar to those 

 which occur when the descent of the sap is 

 impeded by a ligature, or by the destruction of 

 a circle of bark" — ringing, as it is practically 

 called. " The disposition in the young trees 

 to produce and nourish blossom-buds and fruit 

 is increased by this apparent obstruction of the 

 descending sap, and the fruit of such young 

 trees ripens, I think," he says, " somewhat 

 earlier than upon young trees of the same age, 

 which grow upon stocks of their own species ; 

 but the growth and vigour of the tree, and its 

 power to nourish a succession of heavy crops, 

 are diminished, apparently by the stagnation in 

 the branches and stock of a portion of that 

 sap, which in a tree growing upon its own stem, 

 or upon a stock of its own species, would de- 

 scend to nourish and promote the extension of 

 the roots." 



Grafting with a view to renew the head. — This 

 is often found to be expedient, particularly in 

 the case of old and diseased trees, and also those 

 which have ceased to be productive. If such 

 trees were cut down either to within a few 

 inches of the point where they were formerly 

 grafted, or were the larger branches amputated 

 close to or at any distance from the main 

 stem or trunk, abundance of young shoots 

 would be produced, arising from innumerable 



