The
very soft and flabby shoots are likely to be injured in the operation
of grafting, and union does not take place readily. Vigorous coleus
stocks, three months old, gave best results if cut to within two or
three inches of the pot and all or nearly all the leaves removed from
the stump. Geraniums, being harder in wood, made good unions at almost
any place except on the soft growing points. The stock must not have
ceased growth, however. Most of the leaves should be kept down on the
stock. Cions an inch or two long were usually taken from firm growing
tips, in essentially the same manner as in the making of cuttings.
Sometimes an eye of the old wood was used, and in most cases union
took place and a new shoot arose from the bud. The leaves were usually
partly removed from the cion.
Various styles of grafting were employed, of which the common cleft
and the veneer or side graft were perhaps the most satisfactory. In
most instances it was only necessary to bind the parts together snugly
with bass or raffia. In some soft wooded plants, like coleus, a
covering of common grafting wax over the bandage was an advantage,
probably because it prevented the drying out of the parts. In some
cases, however, wax injured the tissues where it overreached the
bandage. Sphagnum moss was used in many cases tied in a small mass
about the union, but unless the parts were well bandaged the cion sent
roots into the moss and did not unite, and in no case did moss appear
to possess decided advantages.
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