PLANT PROPAGATION 



275 



upon the Maiietli lloso. Many times plants arc grafted in order to 

 render them more adaptable to adverse soils and climates. An example 

 here is found in the case of Apples which are often grafted upon the 

 Siberian Grab in order to render them better able to withstand intensely 

 cold climates. [Sometimes'^ double grafting has to 

 be practised especially with fme Pears, but that is a 

 part of the subject we need not enter upon here. 



Girdled trees may be grafted with a bridge graft. 

 In most cases, however, the process of grafting is used 

 simply to multiply the variety. Baldwin 

 Apples are wanted; they do not come 

 true to seed; cuttings are slower; so 

 that some form of grafting is used. 



When only a bud, instead of part of 

 a shoot, is transferred, the process is 

 called "budding." 



^There is a fundamental necessity in 

 all grafting work: The layer just between 

 the wood and bark, the line where the 

 bark peels, of both stock and cion, must 

 be in contact. The stock is the plant 

 grafted upon; the cion (also spelled scion) 

 is the shoot or graft that is inserted. 



Gleft or Gion Grafting. There are a 

 number of simple sorts of cion grafting. 

 The method most used upon trees in 

 which the stock is over one inch in 

 diameter is called cleft grafting. The 

 branch of the stock which is to be 

 grafted is cut off short. It is split 

 through the center and the crack 

 opened to receive a short cion. The 

 cions are best cut during the Fall and stored through the Winter in 

 moist sand, but they may be taken directly from the trees very early 

 when the sap starts in the Spring but before the buds have burst. 

 The best length is three buds long, the top bud being the top of the 

 cion; the lower end is beveled at each side to form a perfect wedge 

 as shown in the cut. This wedge must have the cut surfaces perfectly 

 straight, not hollowed out, if the union is to be a good one. In inserting 

 the cion two cambium rings must be together; this is the part between 

 the bark and the wood. To be sure of this, slant the cion just a trifle. 

 Then cover over the whole cut area with grafting wax. 



Whip or Tongue Grafting 



In grafting the stock and cion 

 must be firmly bound around 

 with broad raffia or other ligature. 

 The above drawing is intended 

 to show how to fix the graft, but 

 the binding must cover the union 

 thoroughly to exclude the air 



