On Grafting Fruit Trees.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1659, 12 June 1875, Page 6 (Supplement)

On Grafting Fruit Trees.

GBATTING, like budding, is a practical acquirement which affords pleasanb amusement to the operator, and likewise leads to agreeable and profitable results. To the professional horticulturist it furnishes a quick and trustworthy means of propagating and increasing the stock of new, or old-fashioned, but good varieties ; wbile to gardeners and amateurs it provides an equally ready means of improving the fruits of the garden by working improved sorts on to permanently planted trees of poor, or only second-rate varieties. As a mean 3of propagating young trees, grafting is not followed to any great extent by gardeners or amateurs, because trees which have arrived at a bearing age can be purchased so cheaply from the nurserymen that it is scarcely worth taking the trouble to grow stocks for the purpose. Bub where there are bearing trees, and the sorts are poor, the case is different, and tho gardener must prove his independence of the nurseryman by doing the grafting hirasolf. Those who can obiain the friendly services of a neighbouring gardener should always do so, his work being that, of a practiced hand, and almost certain to be successful. There are many, however, to whom such services are uob available, and to whom it may be of some advantage to know how to graft for themselves. It is necessary in order to achieve success, that the scions should be I taken off at once, and be laid in by the heels in the ground, to keep them plump and fresh, ' and in such a condition that the sap in them shall be at rest, -while in the slock it shall be giving evidence of moving upwards when the proper time will be found tor putting them on. To describe the operation: —"Commence by cutting over the stocks (or branches, as the case may ,be) at the points where it seems the rno&t desirable to fix the graft, then with a sharp knife make a smooth cut upwarps, of the same width as the diameter of the scion, and about an inch and a half long just penetrating to the wood ; then make a slit downwards and across the top of the cut, a quarter of an inch deep ; cut the scion about 4 inches long, and cut the lower end obliquely at one cut, to fit that made in the^stock, making a similar slit to that in the stock; then fix the the two together, making one or both (botb, if possible) of the outer edges fib neatly, according to the size of the branch grafted. Nothing more remains to be done but to tie them together Becurely, without shifting their position, with bast, and cover the union with adhesive clay, which has been well beaten up with some short hay, to prevent its cracking. Where stocks are grafted close to the ground, the soil is generally hoed up to the top of the clay, so as to keep it moist, and so assist the union ; but in the case of branches of trees, the clay should be pub on in the shape of an egg and be covered with moss, to conserve the moisture. The quickest way to learn how to graft is to wabchsome one doing it for a time or two ; and, in any case, we would recommend that expertness at the operation should be gained before the attempt is made for good j and this can easily be attained by taking a fow nut or ether sticks indoors of an evening, and filling up a spare hour or two by experimenting on them.