THE UPAS TREE. 



3. The united branches are to be kept firmly together by means of ligatures 

 and props. 



4. Grafting wax should be applied, to keep out air and moisture. 



5. The scion should not be separated from the stool until its union with the 

 stock is complete. This will ordinarily happen at the end of a year. Sometimes, 

 when the parts unite reluctantly, the ligatures should be allowed to remain until 

 the end of a second year. 



It is in favor of this kind of grafting that it can be performed in midsummer. 

 The opening of spring is, however, the most propitious time. 



In forming live palisades or hedges, grafting by approach is especially useful. 

 Young trees or shrubs with straight and flexible stems, are planted near to each 

 other in rows, and then so bent that they cross each other after the manner of 

 lattice-work. At the points of intersection, wounds are made as above described, 

 and the stems are kept firmly together by means of ligatures and wax. In time, 

 the interstices of this trellis-work will be filled up with small shoots, and the 

 whole will form a living hedge more compact and impenetrable than any other. 

 The most favorable subjects for this kind of grafting are the hornbeam, beech, 

 elm, privet, willow, and their like. 



When fruit-trees are to be grafted by the approach method, the subject must 

 be planted beside a stool, or placed near to it in a pot. 



In other respects, the process will be similar. At the end of a year, the head 

 of the subject can be cut off just above the point of contact, and the graft just 

 below. The subject is then removed to its permanent place. It is only in rare 

 cases that fruit growers will resort to this troublesome method. 



THE UPAS TREE. 



BY W. S. 



I "WAS glad to see in that article, fertile of thought and facts, the visit to Kew 

 Gardens that you had a favorable word for the tlpas tree (Antiaris toxicaria). 

 It has had fearful qualities attached to it by some travellers, but these exaggera- 

 tions have been proved to exist wholly in fancy, and in the love of the marvellous 

 with which travellers were wont to excite the curiosity of their readers. The 

 juice of the Upas is a virulent poison, and, when mixed with the blood, is speedily 

 fatal to animal life. It is a native of Java, where also there is a tract of country, 

 which, owing to a constant emission of carbonic acid gas from its surface, is 

 totally uninhabitable by animals, and even destructive to vegetation. These two 

 independent facts have been united and worked up into a tale of mystery and awe. 

 In the midst of a desert, caused by its own exhalations, and surrounded on all 

 sides by barren hills, a tree was said to grow, stretching wide its branches, and 

 reigning in awful majesty over the devastation it had occasioned. Not only were 

 animals deprived of life by its poisonous effluvia, but for miles around vegetation 

 was destroyed, and the ground covered with the skeletons of its victims. The 

 juice of the tree was gathered for envenoming arrow-heads, and the task of col- 

 lecting it was assigned to criminals under sentence of death, who were pardoned 

 if they succeeded. By the registers that were kept, it was said that not one in 

 six returned. Two young trees were said to be the only plants of the same kind 

 existing in the locality. This was a fit subject for romance and poetry, conse- 

 quently we find the following in allusion to those fabulous tales : — 



"Where seas of glass, with gay reflections smile, 

 Round the green coast of Java's palmy isle, 

 A spacious plain extends its upland scene. 

 Rocks rise on rocks, and fountains gush between ; 



