GRAFTING, the uniting of a young shoot (scion) of one kind of plant to a stem (stock) of another kind, so that the scion may receive nourishment from the stock. Grafting has been practiced from ancient times, as may be seen from passages in the New Testa merit, and in Virgil and other Latin classics; although it cannot be certainly traced to a more remote antiquity; and its introduction among the Chinese is ascribed to Roman Catholic missionaries. It is a most important part of the art of gardening, and is prac ticed for various purposes, but chiefly for the perpetuation and propagation of the finest varieties of fruit-trees, which could not be accomplished by seed, and is accomplished by grafting more rapidly and easily than by layers or cuttings. Besides this, however, grafting is of great use in hastening and increasing the fruitfulness of fruit-trees; the circulation of the sap being impeded at the junction of the stock and scion—as by a deep wound, removal of bark, or the like—more particularly when there is a consider able difference between the stock and scion; and repeated grafting (technically, working) is often resorted to by gardeners to obtain flowers and fruit much sooner than would naturally be the ease: Grafting is also employed to turn to account the vigor of a root and stem of which the branches are .exhausted or otherwise unproductive, and large crops of fruit may often be thus obtained in a garden much sooner than by any other means.
In grafting, it is particularly to be attended to that the alburnum (q.v.) of the scion is brought into contact with that of the stock. The hard wood of the one never unites with that of the other, remaining separate and marking the place of the operation even the oldest trees. For. scions or grafts, pieces of about 6 to 8 in. long ate generally taken from the shoots of the previous summer, with several buds, but portions of shoots of two years old are sometimes successfully employed. The time for grafting is in spring, as soon as the sap begins to a4pear. The scion should, if possible, be taken from a healthy and fruitful tree, but scions from the extremities of lateral branches are more likely to become speedily fruitful than those from the uppermost branches, where growth is most vigorous. The scion should be kept for a few days before grafting, so that the stock may rather exceed it, not only in vigor, but in the progress of its spring growth; and for this purpose may be placed in the ground, in a rather dry soil, shel tered from the direct rays of the sun. Scions may be kept for some time, and easily
carried to a distance, by sticking their lower end into a potato. The end should always be freshly cut off when the scion is to be used. There are various modes of grafting: is very commonly practiced when the stock is very considerably thicker than the scion. The stock being cut over, is cleft down, and the graft, cut into the shape of a wedge at its lower end by a sharp thin knife, is inserted into the cleft. This mode of grafting is particularly applicable to branches of large trees, when the intro duction of a new variety of fruit, or increased fruitfulness, is sought.—Crown-graffing is used for still thicker stocks, which are cut across, and then cleft down by two clefts crossing one another at right angles, two scions being inserted close to the bark in each cleft; or no cleft at all is made, and any desired number of scions obliquely cut away on one side are simply inserted between the bark and wood of the stock, the operation in this case being deferred till the bark readily parts from the wood. In this kind of grafting, a longitudinal slit in the bark of the stock, opposite to each graft, is advan tageous.—Tongue-grafting is the mode most commonly practiced for ,young trees in nurseries. For this, it is necessary that the stock and the scion should be of very different thickness. A slit or a very narrow angular incision is made in the center of the stock downwards, and a similar one in the scion upwards, both having been first cut obliquely, at corresponding angles, and the tongue thus made in the scion being inserted into the incision in the stock, they are fastened very closely and thoroughly together.—In the end of the stock is cut into. the form of a wedge, and the scion is affixed to it, the base of the scion having been cut or slit up for the pur pose.—Shoulder-grctfting, used chiefly for ornamental trees, is performed by cutting obliquely and then cutting across a small part at the top of the stock, so as to form a shoulder, the scion being cut to fit it.—Pcv-grafting, not now much in use, is accom plished by making the cud of the scion into a peg, and boring the top of the stock to receive it.