GRAFTING.
From the pithy nature of the wood of the Rose, grafting is always less certain than budding; but it is frequently adopted by cultivators, as budding cannot be relied upon in the spring, and as there is much wood from the winter pruning which would be otherwise wasted. It is also useful for working over those plants in which buds have missed the previous summer.
There are several modes of grafting, of which the most generally practiced is cleft-grafting. For this mode, the stock is cut off at the desired height with a sharp knife, either horizontally, or slightly sloping. The cut should be made just above a bud, which may serve to draw up the sap to the graft. The stock can then be split with a heavy knife, making the slit or cleft about an inch long. The cion should be about four inches long, with two or more buds upon it. An inch of the lower part of the cion can be cut in the shape of a wedge, making one side very thin, and on the thick or outer side, leaving a bud opposite to the top of the wedge. This cion can then be inserted in the cleft as far as the wedge is cut, being very careful to make the bark of the cion fit exactly to that of the stock. In order to exclude the air, the top and side of the stock should then be bound with a strip of cloth covered with a composition of beeswax and resin in equal parts, with sufficient tallow to make it soft at a reasonably low temperature. In the course of two or three weeks, if every thing is favorable, the cion will begin to unite, and will be ready to go forward with advancing vegetation. When the stock is sufficiently large, two cions can be inserted, as in [fig. 13].
| [Fig. 13].—CLEFT GRAFTING. | [Fig. 14].—WHIP GRAFTING. |
Whip-grafting is performed by cutting a slice of bark with a little wood from the side of a stock about an inch and a half long, and then paring a cion of the usual length down to a very thin lower extremity, as in [fig. 14]. This cion can then be accurately fitted on to the place from which the slice of bark and wood is taken. The whole can then be bound around with cotton cloth, covered with the composition described before. In all grafting it should be borne in mind, that it is essential for the bark of the cion and that of the stock to touch each other in some point, and the more the points of contact, the greater will be the chance of success.
Rind-grafting is also sometimes practiced, but is more uncertain than the former, as the swelling of the stock is very apt to force the cion out. This mode must be practiced when the bark peels easily, or separates with ease from the wood. The top of the stock must be cut off square, and the bark cut through from the top about an inch downward. The point of the knife can then be inserted at the top, and the bark peeled back, as in a, [fig. 15]. It is desirable, as before, that a bud should be left on the other side of the stock, opposite this opening; and the French prefer, also, to have a bud left on the outside of the part of the cion which is inserted. The cion should be cut out and sloped flat on one side, as in b, [fig. 15]; then inserted in the stock between the bark and wood, as in c, and bound with mat-strings, or strips of grafting cloth.
[Fig. 15].—RIND GRAFTING.
The French have another mode of grafting stocks about the size of a quill or the little finger. It is done by placing the knife about two inches below a bud which is just on the point of starting, and cutting half way through the stock, and two inches down, as in [fig. 16]. The cion is then placed in the lower part of this cavity, in the same manner as with cleft grafting. This mode is called Aspirant, from the bud above the incision, which continues to draw up the sap, until the development of the cion. When the cion has grown about two inches, the top of the stock is cut off and covered with grafting wax. This mode is not always successful, as the sap sometimes leaves the side of the stock which has been partly cut away and passes up the other side.