THE CAMELLIA JAPONICA. 



221 



that all the strength may be directed to 

 the scion. Suppose, then, we have only 

 one bud on a small piece of wood, with the 

 leaf attached ; it may be cut wedge-shaped, 

 and the stock, which should have a bud at 

 the highest part, should be cut to fit the 

 wedge. The reason for a bud being at 

 the highest point of the stock is, that a 

 current of sap should be maintained to the 

 top, to promote the union. Another way 

 of grafting with a single bud is, to cut the 

 stock with a long, sloping cut, half way 

 through, and the but must be cut to match, 

 and a slit ought to be cut upwards in one, 

 and downwards in the other, so as to form 

 a sort of steadying hold. A third mode of 

 grafting with a single bud and its wood, is, 

 by reversing the wedge ; that is, by cut- 

 ting the bud like a saddle, and making the 

 stock the wedge: but it is not nearly so 

 good, because you thereby lose the advan- 

 tage of the leading bud in the stock. Ano- 

 ther way of bud-grafting is, to cut the bud 

 and the stock to fit each other, in some 

 such way as carpenters mitre, so that the 

 piece with the bud fits into the place mi- 

 tred in the other ; but the simplest is the 

 first or second, and they are the safest to 

 adopt. It must always be remembered 

 that the bark of the bud or graft must touch 

 the bark of the stock, and be completely 

 fitted to it on one side, if not on both. 

 There is only a necessity with regard to one 

 side, when the stock is larger than the scion 

 or bud ; and hence it is rjuite certain that 

 if a graft were put in the centre of a stock, 

 it must fail ; but that if the bark be fitted 

 on one side it will unite ; this is material. 

 In grafting of all sorts, a neat fit, the bark 

 of both touching, ensures success; the re- 

 verse produces a failure. In grafting a 

 good strong scion on a stock, it is a com- 

 mon thing to make the union in the mid- 

 dle, and to let the under half, which hangs 

 below the union, go into a phial of water 

 tied to the place, so as to feed it with wa- 

 ter while it is uniting; but this is only de- 

 sirable when the piece intended to be 

 grafted is too large to venture with the 

 limited nourishment of the stock. 



The advantage of all kinds of grafting 

 over the inarch grafting or grafting by ap- 

 proach is, that a man may use up all those 

 shoots which may come off", without injur- 



ing the appearance of his collection of 

 plants, and keep the plants in their proper 

 situations, instead of being obliged to spoil 

 the appearance of his best specimens, by 

 either placing the pot of stocks about his 

 best houses, or removing his plants to ano- 

 ther place. Camellias require very dif- 

 ferent treatment for blooming and for pro- 

 pagating by inarch grafting ; consequently, 

 if a handsome specimen have two or three 

 shoots too long, or have here and there a 

 shoot which could be well spared, he must, 

 if he inarch it, submit the specimens to the 

 treatment of the grafting-house, or bring 

 the stocks into his show-house, and dis- 

 figure the plant by tying the spare shoots 

 to stocks in pots, fixed all about it ; where- 

 as, if they were cut off at once the plant 

 would be improved, and they would do the 

 grafting in a proper place, without inter- 

 fering with any of the principal houses. 



PROPAGATING BY CUTTING. 



This mode is seldom practiced for any 

 but stocks, because of the time lost in the 

 getting up of the plants to any size, and 

 the generally less healthy and vigorous 

 state of the plant in advancing years. 

 Many of the varieties of Camellia are na- 

 turally delicate, and their growth weakly, 

 compared with others. All the singles, 

 and many of the semi-doubles, are of ex- 

 ceedingly robust habit, and these are se- 

 lected for stocks. Two joints are enough 

 for a cutting, one under ground and the 

 other above ; but as there is generally 

 plenty of stuff to be had adapted for stocks, 

 the ends of shoots are mostly selected, two 

 or three joints above the soil and one joint 

 under, because they sooner make large 

 plants, and the top bud takes the lead. 

 The cuttings are prepared by cutting the 

 wood away below the bottom joint and is- 

 sue of the lower leaves, that the roots may 

 proceed from the eyes there. A pot of the 

 ordinary kind is filled thus : crocks, one- 

 third ; compost, to within an inch of the 

 top of the pot, levelled properly, and struck 

 upon the potting table two or three times, 

 to settle it moderately firm; the last inch 

 is filled with silver sand, and the whole 

 gently saturated with water. The cuttings 

 are then placed very thick, not an inch 

 apart, by sticking them through the sand 



