ON THE EXPEDIENCY AND EFFECTS OF GRAFTING. 
365 
a simultaneous decay, and so confirmed, while it sanctioned, the sugges¬ 
tion of the President, 
Although it is our own opinion that disease, as the canker, and 
insects, as the American blight, may be carried by the graft from old 
to maiden plants; yet we believe that, if a perfectly mature and 
healthy scion, cut from the top of an old tree, be inserted on a suitable 
and healthy stock, the future expansion of the graft will be as free 
from decrepitude (except only from the effect of working) as the first 
shoot which rose from the original seed. 
We may now allude to other effects of grafting. If a strong and 
rampant-growing kind of tree be engrafted upon a weakly-growing stock, 
the latter will be much engrossed in the structure of its roots ; and if 
a tree having numerous and attenuated spray, be placed on the same 
kind of stock, the future roots of the stock will be proportionately 
subdivided and unusually fibrous—a proof that there is an intimate 
connection between the branches and roots of trees, and that the 
demands of the former impose their manner of expansion upon the 
latter. 
We may also notice a remarkable circumstance which accrues from 
the kindred operations of grafting or budding, viz. a variegated species 
worked on an unvariegated one, will be accompanied by variegated 
suckers rising from the unvariegated root. This shows to a certainty 
that there must be a subsidence of somewhat from the graft to the 
stock; but what that may be, is not so easily explained. Mr. Knight, 
and several other very eminent vegetable physiologists, maintain that 
no part of the graft ever extends itself down from the point of junction 
with the stock; indeed this is evident to any one taking the trouble to 
dissect the parts at any time after the operation is performed. But 
then the question recurs—What else can convey the discoloration of 
the leaves and bark of the graft to those of the suckers so far below ? 
If the variegation of leaves and bark be what it is considered to be—- 
namely, an accidental inherent disease —the malady may be extended 
or communicated by the admixture of the sap, or by a downward con¬ 
tamination of the cellular membrane ; but whether by the one means or 
the other, is a doubtful question, although the fact itself is unquestionable. 
As fruit-trees are rarely fertile till the vigour of youth is moderated, 
and some varieties are always too luxuriant to be good bearers, working 
them upon others of more diminutive habit may effect valuable im¬ 
provements, whether the strong be inserted on the weak, or vice versa . 
Double-working fruit-trees certainly induces moderate growth and 
consequent fruitfulness ; and it is an expedient which is not so much 
had recourse to as its importance to cultivators deserves. 
