^4 



IRISH GARDENING. 



very deliberately and gently. Vicious stocks must, of 

 course, be more energetically dealt with. Great care 

 should always be taken not to expose any of the brood 

 combs to chilly winds. A few seconds' exposure will 

 sometimes be sufficient to throw the stock back for the 

 season. 



Appliances, sections, foundation, &c., should be 

 ordered at once ; frames wired, and everything- got ready 

 for use. Sometimes there is very little time to see to 

 these things, when they are required. 



&I G- 



jj Correspondence 



Clematis. 



Sir. — ^I was glad to see your able correspondent's note 

 re the above. Without a doubt he is correct in saying 

 that clematises usually succumb after a hot day, and his 

 hint as to planting will be appreciated by readers of 

 Irish Gardening. 



Whether or not every grafted clematis emits roots 

 quite so early as the illustration shows I do not know. 

 There are are several methods of grafting and several 

 stocks used. No doubt, during your correspondent's 

 long experience he has found out the best way to get 

 plants on their own roots quickly. 



It is curious that true species, whether they come 

 from among the rocky crags of the HimaUiyas, from 

 America, China, Japan, or elsewhere, may be planted 

 side by side with hybrids that die while the species will 

 grow rampantly. J. W. B., Glasnevin. 



Grafting. 



Sir, — The article published on this subject in last 

 month's issue from a valued correspondent again 

 raises the question of grafting in the fruit-grounds. 

 We rejoice in the high pitch struck from the beginning 

 by Irish Gardening ; therefore out-of-date statements 

 should at once be mercilessly corrected. The subject 

 of grafting fruit trees out of doors must always be 

 fraught with interest for those whose business or 

 pleasure lies in the direction of horticulture. We were 

 disappointed over the way we were told to graft fruit 

 trees. I regret, when this writing appears, the grafting 

 of fruit trees ought to have been finished long ago. 

 If we were to graft them in the first week of April ov 

 the last week of March I doubt if nurserymen would 

 sell trees at so cheap a rate as they do at present. In 

 fact, here are many pears, plums, and cherries already 

 showing their leaves (loth March), and I have no doubt 

 by the first week of April this will be very much the case 

 all over Ireland. Graft fruit trees early to expect 

 good results. Graft any lime between ist of January 

 and the jst of March ; only when the thermometer 

 stands several degrees below zero, or when the wood 

 is wet, you must not graft. In Germany we used to 

 graft from Christmas on until the middle of February — 

 and such results ! Nowhere in Holland, P'rance, or 

 England saw I finer and stronger grafted-trees than 

 those which the Germans get by their mid-winter 

 method. Out of doors you must first graft cherries and 

 walnuts, next pears and quinces, then plums, apricots, 

 and medlars, last of all apples. Instructive examples 

 of late grafting can be seen in most fruit-growing 

 districts. 



I was further surprised we were still shown 

 old-fashioned methods of grafting fruit trees. In large 



establishments thousands of fruit trees are now annually 

 obtained by the so called "cleft-graft." A triangular 

 piece is cut out of the stock or branch, the scion is also 

 cut triangular (see sketch) ; tie with raffia, and exclude 

 the air by waxing over just the cuts. When top-grafting 

 arge trees this is the method par excellence. Only when 

 stock and scion are of same thickness " tongue- 

 grafting" may be employed, for which see our last 

 issue. "Crown-grafting" is often very useful in the 

 propagating houses, but of no use in the fruit grounds. 

 The very uncertain results, the liability of getting 

 broken by wind, the limited time suited for this method, 

 and the weak growth^these all place this method in 

 last rank. 



We should liked to have heard the writer tell us, 

 not as our forefathers did, to use clay to exclude 

 the air from the cambium tissue, but gafting-wax, as it 

 is cheaper and quicker made and gives far better 

 results. Even if you have to graft only a dozen trees 

 use wax. If you do not use it all now use it in coming 

 years, as it does not spoil. You must not buy it in 

 tins and pay six times the value of it. Get any common 

 fat {i.e. Russian tallow) and twice the quantity resin. 

 Boil together and pour in used jam-tins ; keep your wax 

 liquid in keeping it above a fire. If you should not like 

 the expense of a waxing-stove, a kitchen-stove or an 

 old pail wherein coal will serve the plan excellent. 



To wax loo grafts with this superb mixture will cost 

 you about 2d. F. J. LONGHOUSE. 



Delgany, Co. Wicklow. 



Sir, — Your correspondent misses the point of my 

 article on Grafting in last month's Irish Gardening, 

 page 45. Had he read my remarks carefully he would 

 have seen that it was not for the nurseryman nor the 

 practised hand that it was written, but for the amateur 

 fruit-grower. 



In writing on such a subject as grafting it is most im- 

 portant to know the class of reader for whom one writes. 

 The nurseryman and the qualified gardener know their 

 own business, not so the farmer, who possesses, perhaps, 

 some good variety of apple that he wishes to propagate ; 

 to him grafting is a rather difficult operation to carry 

 out, no matter how well described ; but seeing the work 

 once performed it is simple enough. I admit there are 

 many inethods of grafting ; the simplest, however, should 

 always be recommended, especially when dealing with 

 persons having but few trees to graft. 



The writer evidently has little experience in this 

 country or he would not have advised grafting to be 

 done in winter, and, if he be correctly reported, almost 

 under irctic conditions. Such advice may do in Germany, 

 but it will not do in Ireland. Very few having any 

 experience of grafting will agree with the statement 

 that crown grafting is of no use in the fruit grounds. 

 Now, crown grafting is one of the simplest and surest 

 methods where the stock is thick. It gives the strongest 

 growth, and the stock, where not too thick, is soon 

 rcovered over by a new callus ofgrowth;a stake tied 

 firmly to the stock to which the new growth can be tied 

 protects it sufficiently. Exception is also taken to the 

 use of clay for excluding the air from the cambium tissue, 

 the writer saying that " such out-of-date methods were 

 good enough for our forefathers. " Our forefathers get a 

 good deal of criticism in the present age, but they were 

 wise, nevertheless, and in using properly prepared clay 

 in grafting no better substance could be had. It is only 

 in nurseries, where a large number of trees are to be 

 worked, that wax is used, not because it is better, but 

 because the work can be more expeditiously done. 

 The farmer may have but one tree to graft, whereas 

 the nurseryman may have many hundreds. Hence the 

 advisability of one using clay and the other using wax. 



Geo. Doolan. 



