€HAP. IV.] 
GRAFTING. 
97 
whether that stock be a young tree, or merely 
a branch; and they are both cut so as to 
fit each other. One piece is then fitted on 
the other as exactly as possible; and if prac¬ 
ticable, it is contrived that the different 
parts, such as the bark, soft wood, and hard 
wood of the one, may rest on the correspond¬ 
ing parts of the other; and on the exactness 
with which this is done, the neatness of ap¬ 
pearance in the graft depends. It is not, 
however, essential to the success of the 
operation that all the parts of the scion 
should fit exactly on the corresponding parts 
of the stock, or even that the two trees 
should be of the same diameter, for if the 
bark and the soft wood correspond in any 
one point so as to unite, it is sufficient to 
make the graft take. As soon as the scion 
and the stock are properly fitted to each 
other, the parts are neatly bound together 
with a strand of bast mat steeped in water to 
make it flexible; and the bast is covered 
with a composition called grafting clay, 
which is put on to keep the absorbent ves¬ 
sels of the wounded parts moist, and capable 
of the alternate contractions and dilations 
H 
