GRAFTING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 195, 17 August 1900, Page 3

GRAFTING.

As. the. grafting season is close at hand, and as a preliminary to carrying out the operation, one of the principal objects in view should be, in cutting wood for scions, to select only those portions that are thoroughly healthy and well ripened and have the buds well formed.. The stocks, too, should be sound,- vigorous and healthy. Unless these conditions obtain it cannot be expected that a healthy and lasting union will take place. Healthy scions that are grafted upon unhealthy stocks, or vice versa, will never give satisfactory results, no matter what attention.is paid to their cultivation. The' methods of grafting that' are practiced by different persons are numerous, but they all depend upon one principle, 'which should be well understood by every cultivator who possesses^ fruit trees or has a garden, but we will only try and illustrate a few of those most generally practiced.

Whip or Tongue Grafting.—This is, on the whole, the best and easiest method of grafting, and the one most extensively practised, on young trees in this country. It is represented at figure. I,' where A is the stock and B the scion. In proceeding to operate cut the top of the stock in a sloping direction, terminating if possible above a bud developed or latent. Then take the scion and cut it sloping from above and thin towards the end. Next entir. the knife- and cut. a thin tongue Upwards, as shown in the figure. The scion is now prepared. Then, proceeding to the, stock, enter the knife, and Cut a slice upwards, so that the surface of the wood.shall be as nearly as possible a counterpart of the exposed surface of the wood of the scion. Cut a notch very little below the top to receive the tongue of the scion. This notch shoul(J be. kept open with the point of the knife whilst the tongue of the scion is being inserted.. When the parts have been placed in close contact and secured by tying with matting or other material and surrounded with clay, grafting wax, y or other substances, to exclude the air and , moisture, then the operation is complete.