Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

CHAPTER IV.

MODES OF PROPAGATION BY DIVISION, viz. TAKING OFF SUCKERS, MAKING LAYERS AND CUTTINGS, BUDDING, GRAFTING, AND INARCHING.

Properly speaking, there are only two modes of propagating plants, viz.: by seed and by division. The first raises a new individual, resembling the plant that produced the seed, as a child does its parent, but not perpetuating any accidental peculiarity; and the second method multiplies specimens of the individual itself. Species are propagated by seed, and new varieties are raised; but varieties are generally propagated by division, as they do not always come true from seed. Propagation, by division, may be divided into two kinds:—those in which the young plants root in the ground, such as suckers, layers, and cuttings; and those in which they are made to root in another plant, as in budding, grafting, and inarching.

Suckers.—Sending up suckers, forming offsets, and throwing out runners, are all natural ways of propagation that require very little aid from the hand of man; and if all plants produced these, nothing more would be required than to divide the offspring from the parent, and replant it in any suitable soil. But only certain plants throw up suckers, such as the rose, the raspberry, the lilac, the English elm, &c. Offsets are only formed on bulbs, and runners are only thrown out by strawberries, brambles, and a few other plants; and thus these modes of propagation are extremely limited in practice. No plants produce suckers but those that send out strong horizontal roots; and the sucker is in fact a bud from one of these roots which has pushed its way up through the soil, and become a stem. As this stem generally forms fibrous roots of its own, above its point of junction with the parent root, it may in most cases, when it is thought necessary to remove it, be slipped off the parent and planted like a rooted cutting. As, however, the nourishment it can expect to derive from its own resources will be at first much less than what it obtained from its parent, it is customary, when a sucker is removed, to cut in its head, to prevent the evaporation from its leaves being greater than its roots can supply food for. Sometimes when the parent is strong, part of the horizontal root to which the sucker was attached is cut off and planted with the young plant.

Suckers of another kind spring up from the collar of the old plant, and when removed are always slipped, or cut off, with the fibrous roots that they may have made, attached. Offsets are young bulbs which form by the side of the old one, and merely require breaking off, and planting in rich light soil. Runners are shoots springing from the crown or collar of the plant, which throw out roots at their joints; and which only require dividing from the parent plant and replanting in good soil to make new plants.

Layers.—Many plants, when kept in a moist atmosphere, having a tendency to throw out roots from their joints, the idea of making layers must have very early occurred to gardeners. Where the roots are thrown out naturally, wherever a joint of the shoot touches the moist earth, (as is the case with some of the kinds of verbena, which only require pegging down to make them form new plants,) layers differ very little from runners; but layers, properly so called, are when the art of the gardener has been employed to make plants throw out roots when they would not have done so naturally. The most common method of doing this is to cut half through, and slit upwards, a shoot from a growing plant, putting a bit of twig or potsherd between the separated parts; and then to peg down the shoot, so as to bury the joint nearest to the wound in the earth; when the returning sap, being arrested in its progress to the main root, will accumulate at the joint, to which it will afford such abundance of nourishment, as to induce it to throw out a mass of fibrous roots, and to send up a leading shoot.

A Verbena layered.

The only art required in layering is to contrive the most effectual means of interrupting the returning sap, so as to produce as great an accumulation of it as possible, at the joint from which the roots are to be produced. For this purpose, sometimes, instead of cutting the branch half through, a ring of bark is taken off, care being taken that the knife does not penetrate into the wood; and at others a wire is twisted firmly round the shoot, so as to pinch in the bark; or a knife or any sharp instrument is passed through the branch several times in different directions: in short, any thing that wounds, or injures the shoot, so as to throw an impediment in the way of the returning sap, and yet not to prevent the passage of the sap that is ascending, will suffice.

Layering is a very common mode of propagating plants: and in nurseries often every shoot of a tree or shrub is thus wounded and pegged down. In this case, the central root is called a stool, from the verb, to stole, which signifies the power most deciduous trees possess, of sending up new stems from their roots when cut down. The seasons for performing the operation of layering are during the months of February and March, before the new sap begins to rise, or in June or July after all the summer supply of ascending sap has risen; as at these seasons there is no danger of injuring the tree by occasioning an overflow of the ascending sap, which sometimes takes place when the tree is wounded while the sap is in active motion. In most cases the layers are left on twelve months, and in many two years, before they are divided from the parent plant, in order that they may be sufficiently supplied with roots. In nurseries, the ground is generally prepared round each stool by digging, and sometimes by manuring; and the gardener piques himself on laying down the branches neatly, so as to form a radiated circle round the stool, with the ends rising all round about the same height.

Chinese mode of layering.—The Chinese method of layering, which consists in wounding a branch, and then surrounding the place with moist earth contained either in a flower-pot or a basket, is frequently adopted in the continental gardens; and it has the very great advantage of producing a young tree which will flower and produce fruit while yet of very small size. It is generally applied to camellias, orange-trees, and magnolias; but it will do equally well for almost any other tree or shrub. When a plant is to be layered in this manner, a ring of bark is first taken off, and then a flower-pot is procured, open on one side, so as to admit the branch; and some moss being put at the bottom of the flower-pot, it is filled up with earth, and a piece of wood is placed inside the pot before the open part to prevent the earth from falling out. It may be fastened in its place by wires hung over a branch, or supported by four little sticks, tied to the pot with string. The earth should be very moist before it is put into the pot, and if the season be dry, it may be re-moistened from time to time. When the layer is supposed to have rooted, a cut or rather notch should be made in the branch below the pot, and afterwards it may be cut off, and the young plant transferred with its ball of earth entire to another pot or the open ground. A simpler way of performing this operation is using a piece of lead instead of a flower-pot. A modification of this plan was adopted by Baron Humboldt in South America. He provided himself with strips of pitched cloth, with which he bound moist earth round the branches of several of the rare and curious trees he met with, after first taking off a ring of bark; and when he returned to the same place some time after, he found rooted plants which he brought to Europe.

Cuttings differ from layers in being removed without roots from the parent tree; and as the current of the ascending sap is stopped at once by this separation, they generally require shading, which layers do not; and also, occasionally, what gardeners call bottom heat, to induce them to throw out roots. The branches most suitable for making cuttings are those which grow nearest to the ground, especially those which recline on it, as they have always the greatest tendency to throw out roots; and the side shoots are considered preferable to those which grow erect at the upper part of the plant. The best season for making cuttings is summer, when the sap is in full motion; as the returning sap is then most likely to form the ring or mass of accumulated matter from which the new roots are to spring. It has been already mentioned under the head of layers, that it is from the joints only that roots can be expected to grow; and, accordingly, in making cuttings, the shoot is divided at a joint; and it is reckoned best to choose the joint at the point of junction between the young wood and the wood of the previous season. The cut should be quite smooth; as if the shoot be bruised, the returning sap will not be able to reach the joint in a sufficient quantity to effect the desired end. Some plants are much more difficult to strike as cuttings than others; but some, such as the willow, the currant, the vine, &c., will throw out roots not only from the ring, but from every part of the stem. These plants do not require so much care as to cutting off at a joint; and in fact, will throw out roots from whatever part may be put into the ground, but even they succeed best when properly prepared.

The cutting being taken off, and the division at the joint being made perfectly smooth, the greater part of the leaves should be cut off close to the stem, with a sharp knife; and a hole being made in the soil, the cutting should be put in, and the earth pressed close to its extremity, or it will never strike out roots. This necessity of the part which is to send out roots being fixed firmly in the soil, has been already mentioned with regard to seeds, transplanted trees, and layers; and this necessity exists with equal or greater force with regard to cuttings. When these are made in a pot, the cutting will much more readily strike (as gardeners call its throwing out roots), if it rest against the side of the pot, or even against the bottom.

A cutting of the LEMON-SCENTED VERBENA (Aloysia citriodora),
prepared for putting into the ground.

Cuttings may be struck in the open ground, and in the common soil, without any covering; but these cuttings are only of those plants which strike readily. When struck in pots, it is customary to fill the pots half, or entirely full of silver sand, to prevent the stalk of the cutting from having too much moisture round it. Those cuttings which are most liable to be injured by moisture, such as heaths, &c., are struck in pots filled entirely with sand; but as there is no nourishment to be derived from sand, most cuttings do best with their lower end in earth, and with only sand about an inch, or two inches deep, at the top of the pot, to keep the stem dry, and to prevent it from rotting. The cutting, when prepared, should be buried to about the second joint, and two or three joints with leaves should be left above the soil. A few leaves to elaborate the sap in the case of herbaceous plants, or evergreen trees and shrubs, are essential; for I have known very promising cuttings of petunias, which had been some weeks in the ground, and which had thrown out abundance of roots, entirely destroyed by some snails having eaten all the leaves; and I am told that the case is by no means an uncommon one. Cuttings of delicate plants are generally covered with a bulb-glass pressed closely on the earth, to keep a regular degree of moisture round the plants, and to prevent too rapid an evaporation; but I have found cuttings thus treated very apt to damp off, and have never succeeded in striking them, unless I took off the glass to wipe it, every day. Cuttings of greenhouse plants, I have been told by practical gardeners, strike best when put into the pots as thickly as possible; and as they are generally well watered when first put in the ground, if covered with a close glass, they will frequently not require any watering afterwards. As long as they continue looking fresh, they are doing well; and as soon as they begin to grow they should be transplanted into small thumb pots, and supplied moderately, but regularly, with water; changing the pots for larger ones as the plants increase in size, and according to their nature. Sometimes the pots are sunk into a hot-bed, to induce the cuttings to take root, and this is called applying bottom heat; and sometimes one flower-pot is placed within another a size or two larger, and the outer one filled with water. All these expedients are more or less efficacious; and the great object with all of them, is to excite and stimulate the plant.

Cuttings of the COMMON HORSESHOE, and LARGE WHITE FLOWERED
GERANIUMS (Pelargonium zonale and P. macranthum) prepared
for putting into the ground.

A cutting of the CHINA ROSE (Rosa indica) prepared for putting
into the ground.

Slips.—When cuttings are made of the shoots from the root or collar of the plant, or of little branches stripped off with a small portion of the root or stem attached, they are called slips; and they require no other preparation than cutting off the portion of bark smooth and close to the shoot. Slips are generally taken off in March, but they will also succeed if made in autumn. Cuttings of succulent plants, such as of the different kinds of cacti, require to be dried for some time after they are made, by placing them on a shelf in the sun. This is done to prevent a waste of the returning sap; which, in plants of this kind, is very abundant, and in a very liquid state.

A piping of a Carnation.

Pipings are cuttings of pinks and carnations, and indeed are applicable to all plants having jointed tubular stems. They are prepared by taking a shoot that has nearly done growing, and holding the root end of it in one hand, below a pair of leaves, and with the other pulling the top part above the pair of leaves, so as to separate it from the root-part of the stem at the socket formed by the axils of the leaves, leaving the part of the stem pulled off with a tubular or pipe-like termination. Hence the name of pipings; and when thus separated, they are inserted in finely sifted earth or sand, and a hand-glass is fixed firmly over them. Most florists cut off the tips of the leaves of pipings, but others plant them entire; and the pipings grow apparently equally well under both modes of treatment.

The principal points to be attended to making cuttings are, to cut off the shoot at a joint, without bruising the stem; to make the cutting at a time when the sap is in motion; to fix the end which is to send out roots, firmly in the soil; to keep it in an equal temperature both as regards heat and moisture; to cut off part of the leaves, and to shade the whole, so as to prevent too much evaporation, without excluding the light, which is wanted to stimulate the plant; to keep the soil moist, but not too damp; and to pot off the young plants as soon as they begin to grow.

Budding has been compared to sowing a seed; but it may rather be considered as making a cutting with a single eye, and inserting it in another tree, called the stock, instead of in the ground. A young shoot of the current year’s wood is cut off in the latter end of July or August, or perhaps, if the season should be very moist, the first week in September; and incisions are made longitudinally and across, on each side, above and below a bud, so that the bud may be cut out, attached to an oblong piece of wood and bark, pointed at the lower end. The leaf is then taken off, but the footstalk is left on.

The next thing is to separate the bark with the bud attached from the wood; and on the nicety of this operation much depends, as if any wood be left in the bark the bud will not take; generally, however, if the sap is in a proper state of movement, the wood comes out easily, without leaving the smallest particle behind. The bud must be then examined below, that is, on the side that was next the wood; and if it appears fresh and firm it is likely to take, but if it looks shrunk and withered it had better be thrown away, as it will never grow. Slits longitudinal and across are then made in a shoot of the stock, generally near the fork of a branch; and the bark is gently raised by the handle of the budding knife, which is purposely made thin and flat, while the piece of bark to which the bud is attached is slipped into the opening, and the bark of the stock closed over it. This is an operation that requires the greatest nicety and exactness; as unless the inner bark of the bud fits quite closely to the soft wood of the stock, it is in vain to hope that it will take. The operation is then completed by binding the two parts together with a strand or strip of bast mat, which in the case of rose trees is quite sufficient; but buds on apple and pear trees are sometimes wrapped round with wet moss, which is tied on by shreds of bast matting. In all cases, the strips of bast should be left long enough to be tied with bows and ends, that the ligature may be loosened and tied again without deranging the position of the bud as soon as it begins to grow. The first sign of the bud having taken, as it is called, is when the petiole of the leaf (that was left on when the leaf itself was cut off,) drops, on being very slightly touched with the finger; but the ligature should not be loosened till the bud begins to throw out leaves; and then it should be re-tied only a little slacker than before, until the bud is firmly united with the stock.

Mode of budding a Rose-tree.

Budding, though sometimes used for apples and pears, when the spring grafts have failed, is most commonly applied to roses: it is, however, occasionally used for inserting eyes in the tubers of the dahlia. It sometimes happens that a large portion of a dahlia-root is found to be entirely devoid of buds, or as the gardeners call them, eyes; and when this is the case, in whatever soil the root may be planted, it will never send up a stem. Other dahlia tubers, on the contrary, may be found full of buds; and when this is the case, one of them is scooped out, and a corresponding hole being made in the barren tuber to receive it, the bud is fitted in, and the point of junction covered with grafting wax. The tuber must then be planted in a pot with the budded part above the soil; and the pot plunged into a hot-bed till the bud begins to push, when the tuber may be planted out into the open ground.

What is called flute-grafting, is in fact, a kind of budding; as it consists in taking a ring of bark, on which there is a bud, off a shoot; and then supplying its place with a ring of bark, with a bud attached, from another tree: placing the suppositious bud as nearly as possible in the position of the true bud. Sometimes, however, this is not thought necessary; and the ring of bark is taken from any part of the stock; though it is always replaced by a ring of bark containing a bud from the scion. There are many other kinds of budding, but as the principles are the same in all, it is not necessary to detail them here. The blade of the budding knife should curve outwards, to lessen the danger of wounding the wood when making the incisions.

The principal points to be attended to in budding, are; to choose a fresh healthy bud; to separate the bark to which it is attached without wounding it, quite cleanly from the wood; to make a clear incision through the bark of the stock, and to raise it without wounding it from the wood; to press the bark containing the bud, closely to the wood of the stock so that no air can remain between them; and to perform the operation in moist weather, not earlier than the last week in July, nor later than the first week in September. Of these points the most important are the joining closely the bark of the bud to the wood of the stock, and the performing the operation in moist, or at least in cloudy weather; and if these are attended to there is little doubt of success. When the young shoot begins to grow, it is usual to shorten the branches of the stock, so as to throw the whole vigour of the tree into the bud. It is singular to observe that even when the operation is most successful, no intimate union takes place between the bud and the stock: they grow firmly together, but they do not incorporate, and the point of union may always be distinctly traced.

It must always be remembered that a plant can only be budded on another plant of the same nature as itself; thus a peach may be budded on a plum, as they are both stone fruits, and both belong to the same section of the natural order Rosaceæ; but a peach can neither be budded on a walnut, which belongs to another natural order, nor even on an apple or a pear, both of which, though belonging to the order Rosaceæ, are kerneled fruits, and are included in another section.

Grafting differs from budding in its being the transfer of a shoot with several buds on it, from one tree to another, instead of only a single bud; and as budding has been compared to sowing seeds, so has grafting to making cuttings. The art of grafting consists in bringing two portions of growing shoots together, so that the liber, or soft wood of two may unite and grow together; and the same general principles apply to it as to budding. There are above fifty modes of grafting described in books, but only three or four are in common use.

In all kinds of grafting the shoot to be transferred is called the scion, and the tree that is to receive it is called the stock; and it is always desirable, not only that the kinds to be united should be of the same genus, or at least of the same natural family, but that they should agree as closely as possible in their time of leafing, in the duration of their leaves, and in their habits of growth. This is conformable to common sense; as it is quite obvious that unless the root send up a supply of sap at the time the leaves want it, and only then, the graft must suffer either from famine or repletion. For this reason, a deciduous plant cannot be grafted on an evergreen, and the reverse. The necessity of a conformity in the habit of growth, is strikingly displayed in Mr. Loudon’s Arboretum Britannicum, in a flowering ash grafted on a common ash; by which it is shown, that an architectural column with its plinth and capital may be formed in a living tree, where there is a decided difference in the growth of the stock and the scion.

These examples show that no intimate union takes place between the scion and the stock; and the fact is, that though they grow together and draw their nourishment from the same root, they are in every other respect perfectly distinct. The stock will bear its own leaves, flowers, and fruit, on the part below the graft; while the scion is bearing its leaves, flowers, and fruit which are widely different, on the part above the graft. Nay, five or six grafts of different species on the same tree, will each bear a different kind of fruit at the same time. This want of amalgamation between the scion and the stock is particularly visible in cases of severe frost, when the former is more tender than the latter; as the graft is frequently killed without the stock being injured. It is also necessary when grafted trees are for any reason cut down, to leave a portion above the graft for the new shoots to spring from; as otherwise the proprietor will find his trees changed as if by magic, and instead of choice kinds only the common sorts left. A rather droll instance of this happened some years ago, in the neighbourhood of London; an ignorant gardener having a conservatory full of very choice Camellias, and wishing to reduce the plants to a more compact shape, cut them down for that purpose; when in due time he found, to his great confusion and dismay, that the choice Camellias had all vanished, and that he had nothing left but a number of plants of the common single red on which they had been grafted.

The proper season for grafting is in spring, generally in March and April; in order that the union between the scion and the stock may be effected when the sap is in full vigour. At this season a stock is chosen of nearly the same diameter as the scion, whether that stock be a young tree, or merely a branch; and they are both cut so as to fit each other. One piece is then fitted on the other as exactly as possible; and if practicable, it is contrived that the different parts, such as the bark, soft wood, and hard wood of the one, may rest on the corresponding parts of the other; and on the exactness with which this is done, the neatness of appearance in the graft depends. It is not, however, essential to the success of the operation that all the parts of the scion should fit exactly on the corresponding parts of the stock, or even that the two trees should be of the same diameter, for if the bark and the soft wood correspond in any one point so as to unite, it is sufficient to make the graft take. As soon as the scion and the stock are properly fitted to each other, the parts are neatly bound together with a strand of bast mat steeped in water to make it flexible; and the bast is covered with a composition called grafting clay, which is put on to keep the absorbent vessels of the wounded parts moist, and capable of the alternate contractions and dilations which will be necessary during the passage of the ascending and returning sap between the stock and the graft. These directions apply alike to all kinds of grafting; and the difference between the sorts refers principally to the manner in which the corresponding parts are cut to fit each other.

Whip or Tongue Grafting is where both the stock and the scion are cut in a slanting direction so as to fit each other, and a little slit is made in the stock into which a tongue or projecting part cut in the scion fits. The head of the scion is then cut off in a slanting direction, slanting upwards from the part cut to receive the scion, and the two are bound closely together with a strand of bast mat, or wrapped in moss, and then covered with grafting clay. The part left on the stock in a slanting direction above the graft withers, and is cut off when the graft has taken. This is the kind of grafting generally practised in nurseries, and it is the most useful, as it does not require the scion and the stock to be of the same size.

The common mode of Whip or Tongue Grafting.

Peg Grafting is an old method seldom practised now; according to it, the bark at the extremity of the scion is cut through, and the central wood shaped like a peg; a hole is then bored in the stock to receive the scion, and when the one is inserted in the other, the bark of the two is brought together, so as to make but a very slight scar.

Cleft Grafting is where the scion is shaped at the extremity like a wedge, and a cleft is made in the stock to receive it. When this kind of grafting is practised with trees and shrubs, the head of the stock is cut off; but a modification of it is practised with succulent plants, in which the end of the graft having been cut into the shape of a wedge, is inserted into a cleft made in the side of the stock to receive it, and the line of junction is covered with grafting wax. The tubers of strong common dahlias may be grafted in the cleft manner with choice sorts, as may the tubers of the herbaceous pæonies with scions of the tree-pæony. This last is very useful, as cuttings of the Pæonia Moutan remain weak for several years, while roots grafted in July or August will flower the following spring.

Crown Grafting resembles the last kind in requiring the head of the stock to be cut off, but the scion is shaped at the extremity like a wedge flattened on one side, and it is pushed in between the bark and wood of the stock, with its flat side next the wood, till it is stopped by a shoulder with which it is provided to prevent it going in too far. In Saddle Grafting the head of the stock is cut off, and the extremity of the trunk is shaped like a long wedge; a long slit is then made in the scion, and the divided parts are made to stand astride on the stock. The bark is then pared off at the extremity, so that the two parts may fit quite close; and a firm ligature is applied.

Herbaceous Grafting is very badly named, as it gives the idea of its being a kind of grafting applied to herbaceous plants; whereas, in fact, it only means grafting with the brittle wood of the current year, in opposition to common grafting, which is always performed with firm wood, frequently of several years’ growth. Herbaceous grafting is now generally used for trees of the pine and fir tribe, which, only a few years ago, it was thought impossible to graft at all. The proper time for this kind of grafting is when the young pine-shoots have made about three parts of their growth, and are still so herbaceous as to break readily between the fingers, like a shoot of asparagus. The shoot of the stock is then broken off about two inches below the point, and all the leaves stripped off for nearly two inches more, except two sheaths of leaves, which are left, one on each side, close to the top. The shoot is then split with a very thin knife between the sheaths of leaves left on, and the scion, having had its lower extremity prepared by stripping off the leaves, and cutting it into the shape of a wedge, is inserted as in cleft grafting, and the parts are bound together with list, or with a strip of thin woollen cloth. A cone of paper is then put over the whole to protect it from the sun and rain, and the graft is very seldom found to fail. Sometimes this kind of grafting is applied to annual plants. The period chosen should be when the plant is in its greatest vigour, and is just going into flower. The flower stem is then cut off close to a leaf, and a slit is made in the stem downwards. The scion is then taken off near the root of the plant, and the end being cut into a wedge-shape, is inserted in the slit. The wound is then bound up with strips of cloth spread with grafting wax, and the leaf taken great care of. When the graft begins to grow, this leaf and all the shoots below it are removed. In this manner artichokes have been grafted on cardoons, and cauliflowers on cabbages with great success. Tomatoes have also been grafted on potatoes in this manner, the potatoes perfecting their tubers, and the tomatoes their fruit, at the same time; and it is said that the ripening of the latter was much accelerated. This mode of grafting was invented by the Baron Tschoudy, a gentleman residing at Metz, and the principal point in it which requires attention, is the preserving a leaf, or two leaves, at the extremity of the stock, to serve as nurses to the graft.

Stock and Scion prepared for Inarching.

Inarching, or Grafting by Approach.—Though I have left this till last, it is in fact the most simple of all ways of grafting, and it is certainly the only one practised by nature. In a natural forest, two branches rub against each other in windy weather, till the bark of both becomes wounded; a calm ensues, and, while it lasts, the wounded branches lying across each other adhere and grow together. Of this, which is called inosculation, examples in the beech, the hornbeam, and the oak, are given in Mr. Loudon’s Arb. Brit.; and it is probable that mankind derived the first idea of grafting from observing instances of this kind. Inarching, as practised in nurseries, closely resembles layering. A branch is bent and partly cut through, and the heel thus formed is slipped into a slit made downwards in the stock to receive it. The parts are then made to meet as exactly as possible, and are bound together with bast mat, and covered with grafting clay, as in common grafting. In five or six months the union will be complete; and the inarched plant will be ready to be separated from the parent, which is done with a very sharp knife, so as to leave a clean cut, and not a bruised one. The head of the stock, if it was left on when the plant was inarched, is then cut away, and the plant is ready for removal. It is, however, customary to keep on the grafting clay and ligature for a few weeks, till the plant is firmly established. This mode of propagation is very commonly practised with Camellias and Magnolias; and it is usual in nurseries to see a fine new kind of Camellia surrounded by a sort of frame, on which are several pots of stocks of the single red, placed at different heights for the convenience of attaching to them different branches of the choice kind, to undergo the process of inarching. In most of these cases the head of the stock is retained, and the scion introduced at the side; but as soon as the graft has taken, and has thrown out a sufficient number of leaves to carry on the elaboration of the sap, all the branches of the original plant above the graft are cut away to strengthen the inarched one.

Mode of inarching the Camellia.

Grafting clay and grafting wax have been so frequently mentioned in the various operations of grafting and budding, that it seems necessary to say a few words on their composition. Common grafting clay is made with any kind of stiff clay mixed with a fourth part of fresh horse-dung free from litter, and a portion of cut hay; a little water is sprinkled on the mass, and the whole is beaten several times a day for a week together, till the ingredients are thoroughly amalgamated. The common French grafting clay, or Onguent de Ste Fiacre, is composed of equal parts of stiff clay and cow-dung; but a superior kind, recommended by M. De Candolle, is composed of one pound of cow-dung, half a pound of pitch, and half a pound of yellow wax. Grafting wax is generally made of equal parts of turpentine, bees’-wax, and resin, with a little tallow, melted together, and thoroughly incorporated. This is thinly spread on cotton cloth, and used in strips like cerecloth. In grafting trees with soft and delicate bark, fine moss and cotton wool tied on with ligatures of bast mat, are better than anything else, and they are quite sufficient for every purpose for which grafting clay can be required for ladies. A new composition has been lately invented, made with caoutchouc, which is said to be very efficacious, but I have never seen it tried.

The essential points to be attended to in grafting are choosing a stock and a scion that correspond in nature and in habits of growth; cutting the parts to be united so as to fit exactly and leave no vacuity between; taking care that the soft wood of the scion shall always rest on the soft wood of the stock, as it is between these parts that the union is to be effected; binding the parts closely together, and covering them so as to prevent them from becoming so dry as to shrink apart, in which case the vessels would wither and become incapable of uniting.

Uses of Grafting and Budding. The obvious use of grafting is to propagate varieties that cannot so easily be continued by seed, and that will not strike by cuttings. There is, however, another use nearly as important; and this is to make plants flower and fruit sooner than they would otherwise do. There are many plants that only flower at the extremity of their shoots; and these plants, when tender, would require enormous plant-houses before they would be thrown into flower or fruit. To remedy this inconvenience, a method has been devised of cutting off the tips of the shoots and grafting them; and then, after they have grown for some time, cutting off the tips again and regrafting them, by means of which flowers are at length produced on plants of quite a small size. The same method is applied in Paris to rare fruit-trees to throw them into fruit; and it has been tried with success with the rose-apple (Eugenia Jambos), the mango, &c. In common nurseries, the fruit of new seedling apples is obtained much sooner by grafting than by leaving the plant to nature; and this plan is also practised at Brussels by Prof. Van Mons, to test his seedling-pears.