319 
lht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 4, 1922 
The Story 
You see sweet maid we marry 
A gentler scion to the wildest stock 
And make conceive a bark of baser kind 
By bud of nobler race: this is an art 
Which does mend Nature, change it rather; but 
The art is Nature. 
—Shakespeare—"Winter’s Tale.” 
HE art of grafting is at once the best known 
and the least understood of our common agri¬ 
cultural practices. The veriest urbanite realizes that 
grafting enables tlie horticulturist to do many won¬ 
derful things, but he has the most hazy idea of just 
what grafting can and wlmt it cannot do. At the 
same time, in any group of trained horticulturists 
there is no surer method of starting a discussion 
than by introducing a question upon some phase of 
grafting, such as the inter-relation of -stock and 
SCion. or 
WHAT IS GRAFTING?—For a short, concise def¬ 
inition let us turn to Thomas Forsythe, who, nearly 
120 years ago, wrote: 
"Grafting is the taking of n shoot from one tree, 
and inserting it into another in such a manner as 
that both may unite closely and become one tree.” 
If one wishes to “split hairs” and write a tech¬ 
nical description to include all the unusual forms of 
grafting, perhaps a more comprehensive definition 
might be written, hut for brevity and clearness it 
will be hard to improve on the above. The history 
Details of Whip-grafting. Fig. 136. 
of grafting is lost in the mists of antiquity. One 
historian claims that the Egyptians were ignorant 
of it, but that the ancient Greeks learned i! from 
the Phoenicians and transmitted it to the Romans. 
Certainly the Romans understood the practice, for 
Pliny wrote of it. and St. Paul, writing from Cor¬ 
inth to Rome, used the figure of the graft to teach a 
spiritual truth. 
HOW MANY KINDS OF GRAFTS ARE THERE? 
—In 1S21 M. Andre Thouin, in his monograph, de¬ 
scribed 125 forms. Many of these are, of course, but 
slight modifications, but there are many different 
ways in which this art is made use of by the skillful 
manipulator of plants. Fortunately, there are only 
about four that we are apt to find use for in ordinary 
orchard work. Of these the two most commonly 
used are the whip-graft and the cleft-graft. 
HOW IS THE WHIP-GRAFT MADE?—-This pre¬ 
supposes a stock and scion of approximately the 
same size. The term scion refers to that part which 
is transplanted upon a new stem. It practically al¬ 
ways consists <>f strong, well-ripened wood of the 
preceding year’s growth. The stock is that which 
receives and nourishes the scion, and may consist of 
a small piece of root, the trunk of a small tree or a 
limb of a tree. The splice, or whip-graft, is largely 
used by nurserymen in propagating apple and pear 
o£ Grafting, 
Part I. 
trees, although budding is superseding it to some ex¬ 
tent. In the propagation of nursery trees the scion 
consists ol' 4 or 0 in. of well-ripened wood of the 
preceding year's growth, ami the stock of a piece of 
root of the same size, or perhaps longer. Nursery¬ 
men use year-old apple seedlings grown for the pur¬ 
pose in France or in Iowa or Kansas. The largest 
of those seedlings may be cut up and furnish root for 
two or three grafts. In any case the scions arc set 
in the upper end of the root, which in the upper 
piece would he at the “collar,” or where root, and 
Cleft-grafting a Tree. Fig. 1ST. 
stem meet. The two parts of the union are pre¬ 
pared in a similar manner. A long sloping cut is 
made across the piece at the eml to lie joined. The 
piece is then split near its center, hut a little on the 
side of tiro pith toward the apex of the sloping sur¬ 
face. The depth of the split is about % to 1 in., al¬ 
though the grafter varies tills according to his ma¬ 
terial. Scion and stock are then forced together so 
that, tlic shorter tongue of each will he forced be¬ 
tween the two tongues of the other. If properly 
made, the two should fit closely together. The graft 
is then usually wrapped with twine, waxed twine or 
waxed tape, tied in bundles and stored in damp 
sand or moss until planting time. This grafting 
may he done at any time during the Winter, and 
forms part of the Winter work in many nurseries. 
One advantage in this method is that it offers a 
large amount, of contact between the cambium of 
stock and scion. 
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY CAMBIUM?—I used 
to wonder, as I studied the rings upon a stump and 
learned tlieir meaning, how it was that a tree could 
put on another ring of wood each year without first 
taking off its bark. The truth is that tint layers are 
added each year, a layer of bark and a layer of 
wood. Those layers, after they are formed, lose 
their power to change their form; gradually they 
become thicker walled, and from living inner bark 
and sap wood they become dead outer hark and heart 
wood. Between the hark and the wood there is a 
layer that we term the cambium. About the time 
the hoys are making whistles and their father is 
finishing the Spring pruning there is considerable 
activity in this cambium, the cells are rapidly mul¬ 
tiplied and expanded, and soon, from these mul¬ 
tiplied cells, there is formed a new layer of wood 
and a new layer of hark, while between them is a 
layer of cambium. Wood can never grow to wood 
nor bark to bark, but if the cambium cells of stock 
and scion are in contact the new lagers of wood and 
bark that arc formed will be continuous , giving us 
our union. 
WI1AT ABOUT WHOLE ROOT TREES?—Some 
nurseries make a great point of “whole root trees,” 
claiming that the crown or collar of the seedling tree 
is the only proper place for the insertion of the scion, 
and inferring that the practice winch some nursery¬ 
men follow, of cutting a long, heavy seedling root 
into two or more pieces for propagation, produces an 
inferior tree. The evidence of ever 4S.000 grafts 
made and observed under experimental conditions at 
the Kansas and other experiment stations gives no 
support to this theory. As long as the nurseryman 
uses sufficient seedling root on his graft to produce 
a good thrifty tree the fruit grower need not concern 
himself as to whether they are “whole-root” or 
“piece-root” trees. 
IIOW IS A CLEFT-GRAFT MADE?—The cleft- 
graft is used on stocks too large for whip-grafting. 
It is most satisfactory on stocks from to 3 in. 
in diameter, and Is much used in top-working. The 
work is done out of doors in the Spring, as soon as 
the grafting wax will work well. The stock is first 
sawed off smooth. With a wide chisel or a grafting 
tool it is then split through the center to a depth of 
2 or 3 in. The scion, as with the whip-graft, consists 
of 3 to 5 in. of well-ripened wood of the preceding 
year’s growth and containing two or three good 
Fruit Trees 
buds. The lower end of the scion is then prepared by 
cutting to a long, even wedge, having one edge of the 
wedge slightly thicker than the other; and with a 
bud at the base of the wedge on the' thick side. With 
the end of the grafting tool the cleft in the stock is 
wedged open and one, or usually two, scions are 
inserted. These are so placed that the cambium 
layer of stock and scion coincide. Some, in order to 
make sure that they shall coincide, set the scion 
slightly slanting, so that the cambium layer of stock 
and scion cross and lienee must touch at some point. 
The more intimate the contact between the two the 
quicker and surer the union. The scion is placed 
with the thicker edge of the wedge to the outside, 
as thereby the spring of the stock insures closer con¬ 
tact upon the edge where we hope union to take 
place. A little experience will show that the length 
of slope of the scion should vary with the depth of 
the cleft, and also with the thickness of the stock, as 
these affect the shape of the cleft. After the scions 
are properly set the grafting tool is removed, when 
the scions should be so firmly field by the stock as to 
make their displacement difficult. 
The end of the stock is then covered with grafting 
wax, completely protecting all the cut surface from 
the air. This wax is made by melting together 4 lbs. 
rosin, 2 lbs, beeswax and 1 ill. tallow. When melted 
and mixed the mixture is poured into a pail of cold 
Making Kerf-graft. Fig. 138. 
water and then pulled until it is smooth. The sub¬ 
stitution of paraffin for beeswax makes a much 
cheaper wax, and one nearly as good. The kerf graft 
is a modification of the cleft-graft, especially adapted 
to large limbs where if is desirable to use more than 
two scions, and where it is not desired to split the 
stock. The accompanying illustration, Fig. 138, shows 
the method of making this graft. 
WHEN IS GRAFTING DONE?—The whip-graft 
is employed, as stated, largely in propagation. This 
is done indoors during the Winter. The cleft-graft 
is used in top-working trees, which is done in the 
Spring before growth starts. For good results the 
scion must he dormant, or at least as dormant as the 
stock, preferably more so. With dormant scions 
grafting may be done after growth starts, although 
the slipping of the bark sometimes interferes with 
successful grafting in the Spring. caul tuayer. 
The Canna Bed 
E VERYONE who has a garden should plant some 
Gannas. They make a wonderful display in 
beds of solid colors, hut single specimens of the 
showy kinds, like King Humbert, or Fire King, are 
well worth having. To do best, Cannes require 
warm, rich, well-worked soil and a sunny situation. 
The picture, Fig. 139, shows a bed of King Hum¬ 
bert, giving some idea of its robust growth. To get 
best results, faded flowers should be picked off and 
