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22 
THE APPLE. 
failure. This mode of grafting is, however, but seldom used for the 
apple or such-like trees. It is useful with such hard-wooded brittle- 
barked trees as the orange and others that are slowly united. We offer 
an illustration here rather to set forth our 
meaning than as a mode of grafting apples. 
Two stocks, each furnished with independent 
roots, are brought together, a small portion of 
the wood and bark are cut off each at the 
point of union, and both are firmly tied together 
until they grow into one. (Fig. 1.) 
Throughout the remainder of these notes on 
grafting we wish to be understood as writing of 
a detached scion of one tree or branch, to be 
inserted into the branch, stem, or, as it is tech¬ 
nically called, stock, of another distinct branch 
or plant. See Fig. 2, in which a represents the 
Fig. 1. 
scion and h the stock. It is needful to be thus explicit, as we find that, 
even after all that has been 
Fig. a. 
said and written and illustrated about 
grafting, there are intelligent men and 
women who do not yet know the dif¬ 
ference between the scion and the stock, 
nor understand which is which. 
It will be obvious, at a glance at 
Fig. 2, that the complete detachment 
and isolation of the scion (a) must of 
necessity introduce 9. new element of 
danger into the art of grafting. The 
scion is small, and consequently liable 
to speedy exhaustion alike of sap and 
growing force. Time, therefore, becomes 
important, for it is obvious that if the 
detached scion is to live in a new posi¬ 
tion, it must soon be reattached to 
some other plant that will refill and feed 
it with fresh supplies of food. For this 
reason the time to graft becomes a 
matter of great moment. It has been 
stated that the growing parts of living 
plants will unite at any season. But 
there are seasons when the union is more rapidly effected than at 
others. The spring time is such a season ; therefore, from the middle 
of February to the beginning of April is the best time to graft. The 
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