122 THE GARDENER. [March 



After this portion of the work is completed, these grafted plants 

 should be placed where the temperature can be kept at 60°. They are 

 best in a close frame in the propagating-house, or under hand-lights, 

 where they can receive a little bottom-heat, if possible, which assists 

 them to unite more quickly. I have been very successful with them 

 placed in a vinery with the above temperature, and without any bottom- 

 heat, although they are longer before taking to the stock. They re- 

 quire to be kept moist at the roots, and well syringed until the grafts 

 have properly taken, and shaded from strong sun. When the grafts 

 are well united to the stock, growth will soon commence rapidly; and 

 care must be exercised that the frame is not kept too close to cause the 

 growth to be weakly. As soon as 4 inches of growth is made, they 

 should be transferred from the small into 5-inch pots, using the same 

 compost. In this size the scion can be buried in potting underneath 

 the soil, which is advisable. By adopting this method, young roots 

 are soon thrown out from the place where they are worked, and in due 

 time they will be on their own roots independent of the stock. The 

 position now suitable for the plants is a low pit with a hot-water pipe 

 in it, where the desired temperature can be kept, and air admitted on 

 favourable occasions to strengthen the young shoots as they develop. 

 They should still be shaded from strong sun. It is advisable to keep 

 the pit close for ten days or a fortnight after potting, until they have 

 taken to the new soil. The plants will still receive much benefit from 

 a little bottom-heat, if it can be given them, and the cultivator will 

 soon see a great difference in the plants over those that are on a cold 

 surface. 



The potting must be attended to as the plants require it, until they 

 are put into 9-inch pots, which size we consider large enough the first 

 season. If the plants have a suitable pit devoted to them, and a gentle 

 bottom-heat until the external atmosphere is sufficiently warm to ren- 

 der artificial heat unnecessary, the young shoots will grow apace. The 

 flower-buds should be picked off as they appear, and the plants fumi- 

 gated at the first appearance of greenfly. When the external atmo- 

 sphere will allow, the plants must be grown under more airy conditions. 

 Such varieties as Gloire de Dijon and Marechai Niel, &c, will make 

 tremendous shoots by the end of the season, which should not be 

 stopped, but should be well ripened in the autumn, and in early spring 

 they will produce a flower from nearly every bud along the shoot. I have 

 seen from a Marechai Niel, grafted in March, forty flowers the following 

 spring, although the plants were planted out in a prepared border at 

 the end of June, — consequently the plant grew more rapidly than it 

 would have done in a pot. 



I might say that this variety (Marechai Niel), according to my ex- 

 perience, refuses to do well upon the Manetti for a stock : it soon dies 

 off. Such has been my experience. It will succeed well the first year, 

 and then the stock appears to die. It should be potted or planted as 



