I think I would cut off at the desired height and bark graft into the top of the trunk. Put several scions in around the circumference of the trunk to increase chances of success and if several grafts take, the trunk will heal more quickly.  Cut off the weaker grafts to favor only one graft after the trunk is healed. I haven't had success with grafts that are not the apical point.  Do your grafting now, cherries will be pushing sap already  if your grafts fail, it's likely that the tree will grow back several whips that you can try to graft onto next year  Cutting the tree while dormant usually stimulates regrowth of nearly as much as was removed within the first year.  Wrap cherry scion with parafilm to control transpiration.

      —Crown-Grafting.— General Directions.

This method is suitable to a large number of trees and shrubs of various kinds. It is practiced in spring, as
soon as the bark is easily separated from the alburnum, but the precaution should be observed of preparing
the stocks beforehand, and heading them down three or four weeks before grafting takes place. Formerly
this operation was very often performed in autumn, several months before the usual time of grafting. When
inserting the scions, the cuts, which have been more or less cicatrised, should be freshened with the pruning

knife. The scion branches are cut during winter, before the sap begins to flow, and placed in soil or sand,
either in a cellar or at the north side of a wall, in a vertical or a horizontal position, and either half or entirely
buried; the essential point is to keep them from vegetating, and to see that the bark does not dry up. The
scions are pieces of branches from two to five inches long. The upper half should have two or three eyes; the
lower half is cut with a Hat sloping splice-cut, which should begin opposite to an eye,and end in a thin
point. It should be so cut as to contain no pith, which would rather interfere with the process of cohesion,
and on the whole should be of no great thickness. A small notch or shoulder cut in the upper part will serve
to rest the scion better on the stock.

The scion is inserted into the top of the stock between the bark and the wood, the point being generally cut
on both sides to facilitate its entrance; some operators, however, content

      76 THE ART OF

themselves with moistening the point with their lips. A small implement of wood or ivory is usually
employed in preparing a place for the insertion of the scion. It has a long sloping point, which is introduced
between the bark and the alburnum, and on being withdrawn the end of the scion is slipped into the opening.
When this precaution is taken,

A: crown graft completed

there is no fear of breaking slender scions nor of bursting the bark; however, the simple pressure of the hand
will often suffice to fix the scion under the bark without previously raising it. The introduction of the scion
is in most cases facilitated by the circulation of the sap which separates the

GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 77

bark from the alburnum. However, it may happen that scions of large size will threaten to burst the tissues;
in that case the best thing to do is to make a longitudinal cut in the bark with the grafting-knife at the
moment of inserting the scion. The thicker the stock is, the greater the number of scions. which may be
placed upon it; however, to render the cohesion more complete, there should be a distance between them of
at least two inches. A bandage, which should not be too tight, nor compress the bark too much, is necessary
after the insertion of the scions. Grafting-wax is applied to the cuts, and to the bark of the stock where it
covers the scions, in order to prevent rents. The adhering of the wax is facilitated by wiping off the sap
which oozes from the cuts. Our illustration represents the head of a stock (which has been. grafted, either by
crown-grafting, or cleft-grafting, or inlaying,. or veneering) bandaged and covered with grafting-wax. The
wax is spread over the cut (A) on the head of the stock, where a branch has been removed (E), where the
scion and stock are joined (I), and on the top of the shortened scion (O). The terminal bud (U) is not
covered, nor the bud (Y) imbedded in the incision. Crown-grafting is, so to speak, indispensable in the case
of large trees, on which a great number of scions may be grafted, in consideration of the amount of
nourishment furnished by the roots.