TWO METHODS OF GRAFTING. 



The season for indoor grafting is upon us, and 

 the discussion of ways and means is now in order. 

 I venture, therefore, to call the attention of the 

 readers of The American Garden to a comparison 

 of two methods — the one an old one in universal 

 use, the other not a new one, but employed by few 

 propagators. They are the whip- graft and the 

 veneer-graft. There is an essential difference be- 

 tween the two 

 methods. The 

 whip-graft is 

 s o generally 

 known that a 

 description is 

 unnecessary. 

 A reference to 

 Fig. I will ex- 

 plain the 

 veneer - graft : 

 A shows the 

 cuts upon 

 stock and 

 scion ; these 



cuts are not A B C 



to extend in- 

 to the wood, Fig. i. Showing Grafts, 



but simply through the back, so that when placed 

 in position the exposed broad surfaces of cambium 

 come together ; b shows stock and scion in contact, 

 and bound with raffia or other material ; c shows 

 a veneer - grafted apple tree after one season's 

 growth. 



It seems almost unnecessary to remark that in 

 grafting, when cut surfaces of hard wood are placed 

 together no union takes place between them, and yet 

 I have not unfrequently met practical men, who 

 could graft well, who were not clear on this point, 

 but supposed that union took place over the whole 

 cut surface. It is in the cambium and young sap- 

 wood, and there only, that the power of union and 

 growth lies. 



Now, in the veneer-graft, the only cut surfaces of 

 wood are the oblique end-cuts, and as stock and 

 scion are placed together, the oblique cut on the 

 scion is covered by the tongue of bark on the stock, 

 so that if the work is veil done union takes place all 

 around the cut wood, and it is securely protected 

 from outside influence. The oblique end-cut on 



the stock being surrounded by growing tissue is 

 usually imbedded in new growth the first season. 

 The union between the side-cuts, which should be of 

 the same width, and from an inch to an inch and a 

 half in length, is complete throughout. This I have 

 proved by making transverse and longitudinal sec- 

 tions of a large number of grafts. A portion of one 

 of these transverse sections, taken from the point d, 

 Fig. I, is shown in Fig. 2. It was photographed 

 from the microscope, and is magnified twenty-five 

 diameters. The stock appears on the left, the scion 

 on the right ; the space between the woody parts is 

 fiilled with a homogeneous growth of new tissue, 

 and this extending throughout the length of the cuts 

 insures free communication between stock and scion, 

 and also gives a strength able to resist heavy strains 

 from winds or other causes. 



In the whip-graft we have large surfaces of cut 

 wood ; all the cuts extend through the wood. We 

 depend for union upon the contact of a very narrow 

 line of cambium. This line is a long one, it is true, 

 but in very many cases it is not all available. If 

 the scion is smaller than the stock we get union 

 only on one side. If they are of the same size we 

 are still liable to have some points in its extent, 

 where from irregularities or inaccurate cuts we get 

 no union, and these places serve as points of in- 

 gress for moisture, which induces decay in the dead 

 tissue of the cut wood surfaces. Fig. 3 is a portion 

 of a transverse section of a whip-graft after one 

 season's growth, taken from the same relative point 

 D, as noted in Fig. i. It was made in the same 

 way, and has the same magnification as Fig. 2. On 

 the left we have the scion next to the tongue of the 

 stock, then the tongue of the scion, and on the right 

 the body of the stock. The white spaces show the 

 extent of the cut wood surfaces which have not 

 united. New growth has taken place on both sides, 

 and in the upper left-hand corner new tissue is 

 wedging itself into the space between the scion and 

 the tongue of the stock. 



When the section was made these spaces were 

 filled with granular particles of decayed wood, and 

 a longitudinal section showed this to extend over all 

 the cut wood surfaces. I have examined a number 

 of whip-grafts after three and four years' growth, 

 and have found that even when the exterior growth 

 all around the graft was smooth and regular, there 



