142 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[May. 



thing to say. I understand that Mr. Breitmeyer 

 will put in steam the next time he builds green- 

 houses. I cannot help if Mr. Taber writes on 

 the same subject. I have only stated facts as I 

 know them. Mr. Breitmeyer can say nothing 

 about steam, because he has none in his 

 houses." 



[As already noted, this letter was received be- 

 fore the one from Mr. Breitmeyer appeared in 

 our last. It seemed important that if there were 



any confusion in names of the Carnations it 

 should be known. 



Perhaps if the paper Mr. M. refers to had ap- 

 peared, Mr. B.'s communication would not have 

 been needed. It was held back for a little re- 

 vision, fur which the editor had not found the 

 time required. 



As the matter now stands, the points we think 

 are clear, and will not need any further corres- 

 pondence.— Ed. G. M.] 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



CO MM UNI C A TIONS. 



UNIVERSAL SIDE CLEFT CRAFTING. 



BY WOODBRIDGE STKONG, NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J. 



In the spring of 1881, I practiced with much 

 success a method of grafting, which I submit for 

 trial to the readers of the Gardener's Monthly 

 interested in the subject. 



I cut the scions with shears into pieces of 

 one, two or three buds, with from one to two 

 inches of wood below the lowest bud, but prefer 

 scions with only one bud. I then seat myself at 

 a table, upon which a soft piece of pine used 

 with smooth surface has been fastened, and with 

 thumb and finger of the left hand take hold of 

 the scion at the top bud, and rest its lower end 

 on the board, holding the scion nearly perpen- 

 dicularly, while with a thin, sharp knife, I make 

 a downward oblique cut in a straight line five 

 or six-eighths of an inch long, to and through 

 the centre of the lower end of the scion, thus 

 making one side a wedge. 



This done, I turn the scion over, lay the cut 

 side flat down upon the board and shave ofi" its 

 other side in like manner, but about one quarter 

 of one inch less in length than the side first cut, 

 making a sharp wedge, say six-eighths of an 

 inch long on one side, and four-eighths of an 

 inch on the other side. I use a budding knife, 

 and scions can thus be prepared with much 

 rapidity and uniformity. 



I generally prepare about thirty scions in this 



way at a time, and put them in a dish with 

 water, to keep them fresh until set, and then im^ 

 mediately proceed to set them. 



If the limb or stock is an inch and a-half 

 thick or more, and sufficiently firm, I take a 

 thick, sharp chisel a quarter to three eighths of 

 an inch wide, and with a hammer and the long- 

 est or straight side of the chisel inside, next the 

 stock, make a cut obliquely downward into the 

 stock, towards its centre, through the bark and 

 into the hard wood, deep enough to receive the 

 whole of the wedge part of the scion. Then with 

 the hammer I drive the scion lightly down into 

 the cut, with the longest side of the wedge inside 

 next the stock, so that when done the scion will 

 stand off from the stock, at an angle of about 

 forty-five degrees, or about the angle that young 

 limbs usually make with the stock from which 

 they grow, and so that the cut bark on the 

 shoulder of the longest side of the wedge will 

 rest firmly against the cut part of the bark of the 

 stock where the chisel first entered it. Or, with 

 a thin, sharp knife blade and the hammer, I 

 make a broad cut downward in the same direc- 

 tion, and of the same depth, into the hard wood, 

 and set in this cut two scions diverging like the 

 sides of the letter V. 



It is safer not to drive the scion down quite to 

 the shoulder, than to drive it at all past that 

 point; for if driven too far, no part of the cut 

 bark of stock and scion will touch each other, 

 and the operation will fail, while if not driven 

 quite to the shoulder the cut bark on each side 



