390 THE GARDENER. [Sept, 



From the ' Gardeners' Chronicle ' we learn that 



" AFrench gardener has adopted a newmethod of grafting and buddingPear-trees. 

 The wild stocks, he says, succeed best when budded, as their branches then con- 

 tinue to grow as if no operation bad been performed ; while in the case of grafting, 

 the stock, being cut down to the ground wastes vitality, which the graft is not able 

 to supply for a long time, so that during the first year progress is very slow. In 

 order to remedy this he leaves two shoots on each side of the stock, which he 

 splits half-way down, and then shaving away the sides of the lower end of the 

 scion, he inserts the latter in the cleft and binds up in the usual way. If the 

 operation is performed in the opening spring, you pinch off" the shoots in order 

 to prevent the stem from growing too fast, and cut back at the end of the year ; 

 if the grafting is performed in the autumn, the cutting is executed at the end of 

 the winter. The graft having then taken well, it has force enough to excite the 

 action of the spongioles, so that much trouble and loss of time are saved. He 

 has a like plan for budding. It is well known that this operation cannot be 

 adopted after the rise of the sap has ceased ; he therefore cuts his bud with a 

 small portion of wood attached to it, so that the lower part of the eye is, of 

 course, not only uninjured but supported by the ligneous matter; the budding 

 piece is then inserted, either in a slit in the top of the stock, or into an opening 

 made in the middle of the stock with a knife, and into which the bud, or rather 

 the small piece of wood attached to it, is inserted. The operation may be re- 

 garded, in fact, as grafting with a single eye. The grand advantage is that the 

 operation succeeds as well in October or November as in August or September." 



Another gap in the horticultural world is created by the death of 

 Mr John Gould Yeitch, F.L.S., eldest son of the late Mr James Yeitch, 

 of the Royal Exotic Nurseries, Chelsea, who died at his residence, 

 Coombe Wood, Kingston Hill, on the 13th of August, at the early age 

 of thirty-one years and a few months. Keenly devoted to his profes- 

 sion, favoured with an education of no common order, gifted with 

 much energy of character, genial and intelligent, he had before him a 

 future that might have raised to even a higher level of estimation the 

 honoured name of Yeitch. Fate willed otherwise, and in the fulness of 

 a promising life he fell a victim to a serious affection of the lungs, that 

 for a few years past had necessitated his retirement during the winter 

 to a warm southerly clime. In the year 1860 he started on a journey 

 of exploration to China, Japan, and the Philippine Isles, and from 

 these he obtained some very valuable new plants and trees, " among 

 which the lovely Primula cortusoides amcena would of itself form no 

 mean monument to his memory." In 1864 he visited Australia and 

 the South Sea Islands, returning home in February 1866, bringing 

 with him valuable horticultural treasures. "During this journey, 

 Cape York in Northern Australia was visited, and here was obtained 

 a new Palm, which has since been dedicated to his honour under the 

 name of Yeitchia Johannis. The 'Gardeners' Chronicle' of August 

 20th contains a touching tribute to his worth and memory from the pen 



