THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



53 



be budded during the summerj in the same 

 way as roses are dealt with. 



How to raise stocks is a question asked 

 by " Pomarius." Let it be known, first, 

 that as a rule it is cheaper to buy of the 

 large gi-owers than to raise them at home. 

 But it' you will raise them, you must wait 

 and have patience. Take a stool of wild 

 plum, and cut it over close, and plant it in 

 a deep damp soil, with a little old dung, to 

 give its roots a start. It will throw up 

 lots of suckers. Lay every one of these 

 suckers, and peg them down, and tread a 

 sod (grass-side downwards) upon every 

 one of them, and by the end of the season 

 they will all have rooted. Then take them 

 off, cut out the buds nearest the root, and 

 plant in nursery rows for future use. 

 "Pomai'ius" is pai'ticularly anxious about 

 paradise, which is the best of stocks for 

 apples, and especially for bush and espalier 

 trees. Having a stool of the paradise to 

 begin with, it may be dealt with the same 

 as a wild plum ; for though suckers make 

 suckers, that may be prevented by cutting 

 out the root-buds at the very first start 

 after they have rooted. But a cleaner 

 way to propagate apple-stocks is to take 

 cuttings in February or very early in 

 Jlarch. Horizontal branches should be 

 chosen, eight inches long, taking care to 

 leave a heel with each. Cut out all the buds 

 cscejit the top five, four, or three. Make 

 a trench a foot wide and eighteen inches 

 deep, and fill it with fresh loam, old 

 turf, and sand, in equal proportions, and 

 in this plant them, and tread firm. Any 

 good sandy loam will do, if the making of 

 trenches for tliem is too troublesome a 

 job ; but they come stronger if extra care 

 be taken. As soon as the buds begin to 

 break, put on hand-glasses, or put boards 

 each side of the row on which to lay the 

 lights of a common frame. Keep well 

 supplied with water till the July rains set 

 in ; then remove the lights, and your 

 stocks are safe. Burr-knot, Codling, June- 

 eating, Siberian, and Paradise are propa- 

 gated in this way. Another way to raise 

 stocks, is from seed. February is the time 

 to sow apple and pear pips, and the best 

 way is to sow in six-inch pots in sandy 

 loam, and turn the plants out into rows in 

 wet weather, as soon as they are large 

 enough. All they want is fair ordinary 

 treatment in a good soil to insure vigorous 

 growth. 



Grafting is performed as the sap rises, 

 and the stock should be in advance of the 

 graft ; and, as we cannot push the stock 

 forward, we must keep the grafts back. 



and that is accomplished by heeling them, 

 that is, putting the lower ends into the 

 soil, and here letting them remain a fort- 

 night. All the modes of grafting have 

 one feature in common, the union of tlie 

 scion with the stock in such a way that 

 the outside bark comes edge to edge over 

 the whole or great part of tlie circum- 

 ferences brought together. The whip, 

 the cleft, the saddle, and the crown, are 

 the modes most in use. The amateur 

 should try his hand at such to get prac- 

 tice. Let us take crown grafting. Cut 

 the head over, make a cleft or division in 

 the top of the stock, and cut the scion to 

 a wedge to fit this c'.eft, and then insert it 

 so that it fits bark to bark all round if 

 possible ; if not, it must fit well on one 

 side. Bind up tight with bast, and then 

 plaster with grafting-clay, and the job is 

 finished. Saddle-grafting is the reverse 

 of this. The stock is cut to a wedge- 

 shape, and the scion cleft up the middle, 

 and fitted so as to ride on the wedge of the 

 stock. When scion and stock are of 

 the same size, this is a very expeditious, 

 neat method, and as it brings a great 

 length of the bark of each together on both 

 sides, the union takes place quickly and 

 safely. Cleft-grafting is only a modifica- 

 tion of crown-grafting, and is practised 

 with large stocks. The stock is cut over 

 in a sloping form, the top of the stock 

 is opened with a chisel, and the scion, cut 

 to a wedge an inch and a-half long, is 

 inserted so that the bark fits close on one 

 side. It is then bound up, and plastered 

 over. Wliip-grafting is the orthodox 

 nursery mode. The stock is cut aslant, 

 and a slice of bark and wood taken ofi" 

 one side by a shave of the knife upwards ; 

 then in the centre of the top of the stock 

 a wedge is cut out, so as to form the 

 letter V. The scion is cut to fit these, 

 namely, with a wedge and a tongue ; the 

 wedge is let into the letter Y, and the 

 tongue fits close to the slant slice ; the 

 operation of tying is very easy, and the 

 scion holds firm in its place. To those 

 wlio have never seen grafting performed, 

 this may not be very intelligible, and these 

 operations, simple as they are in practice, 

 are not to be made plain bj' any amount of 

 description, or any number of figures. Let 

 the amateur, then, who purposes to study 

 grafting, manage to see it once performed, 

 and then come back to this article, and he 

 will understand the process in all its de- 

 tails, and will need only — what we all need 

 to make us perfect — namely, Practice. 

 An Old Gabdenee, 



