HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 



37 



taut than this; it accomplishes the propagation of particular va- 

 rieties more surely and more speedily than is possible by seed or 

 -cutting or layers, and besides this, is invaluable in hastening and 

 increasing the fruitfulness of fruit trees. Another thing, too, when 

 ii root is still vigorous and healthy, but its stems and branches 

 old and weak, a graft or bud near, or upon the thrifty root, will in 

 a very short time replace the worn out branches with a new, strong, 

 healthy growth, into wliich all the strength of the large root is 

 thrown at once. The stock should always have strong roots ; 

 about the graft or scion, it does not matter so much, though of 

 course it is desirable that it also should be of vigorous habit, but, 

 if it is not a healthy stock, will imjDart to a weak, but not diseased 

 i;cion, a large portion of its own thrift and vigor. Grafting 

 should always be performed early in the spring, when the sap is 

 just beginning to circulate ; the grafts may be either shoots or the 

 current year's growth, or those of several years back, and herein 

 is one of the most marked differences between grafting and bud- 

 ding, for with the latter the scion must invariably be of the cur- 

 rent season's growth, containing an embryo bud. 



The stock does not change the species of the scion, but it does 

 very much affect the quality of the fruit. A weakly stock will 

 make small and insipid ; a vigorous one, large and fine flavored 

 fruit. 



The great art in grafting, and it requires no small degree of 

 skill and care and patience, is to unite exactly the inner bark of 

 the scion with the inner bark of the stock, and thus to keep them 

 in close contact until the union is complete ; it is a more trouble- 

 some and more uncertain operation than that of budding, besides 

 being more injurious to the stock, in case of failure, but it has 

 the one advantage of giving a cjuicker and larger start to the new 

 tree, in the event of success, for while the budded tree has but 

 one tiny bud to start from, the grafted tree may have one or a 

 dozen whole branches, sometimes even the entire top of a tree. 



There are several methods of grafting, and to the details of 

 these we will now proceed. 



The most simple and therefore most commonly successful is 

 that called " grafting by approach," or " inarching," For large 



/ 



