Can one kind of tree produce the fruit of another kind of tree?—Yes! Grafting makes it possible. If a bud from a twig of a pear tree is carefully inserted in slit made in the bark of a quince bush, a pear twig will grow. The quince bush win bear both pears and quinces!

In the same way, an almond tree can be made to produce both peaches and almonds. Or a crab apple tree can be made to bear a crop of fine cultivated apples. Sometimes grafting is used to produce freak trees and bushes, but it has nevertheless an important place in agriculture.

The first advantage of crafting is that it makes it possible for a nurseryman or gardener to be sure that his young trees or shrubs will bear the same quality and variety of fruit as the parent tree. A twig taken from a tree and grafted into another tree will produce the same type of fruit borne by the tree from which it was taken.

There are many methods of inserting the budded twigs, or scions, as they are called, into the stock of the other plant, but two rules must always be followed: First, only related species of trees or shrubs can be grafted. This means that apples can be grafted on pear and quince trees, and peaches can be grafted on apricot, almond, plum, or other stone fruit trees. But it is impossible to graft apples on peach trees, for example.

The second rule is that the cambium layer which carries the vital sap of the scion must touch the cambium layer of the stock on which it is grafted. Otherwise, the grafted twig cannot grow.

There are many different kinds of grafting. It can range from inserting a single bud under the bark to grafting long twigs across the wound of a tree in order to heal wide wounds in the bark.

Interestingly enough, grafting is being applied to animals, too. Eyes, for instance, have been replanted in such creatures as frogs, toads, rats, and rabbits. Surgeons have learned from these experiments how to help people who have been injured or disfigured. Bone taken from the ribs has actually been grafted onto the nasal bone to form a new nose, and skin has been grafted onto burnt tissue to remove scars!