480 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 13, 1872. 



generally know of the invaluable help they can give ns in pro- 

 tecting from birds our garden fruit and flowers? The late 

 lieavy rains this spring have given us the promise of abundance 

 of Strawberries, and in the south, at least, the bloom is mag- 

 nificent. To keep off the birds how simple, how certain, how 

 small is the cost of a cat on a small chain sliding on a vrive, and 

 giving the animal the walk up and down the whole length of 

 the Strawberry beds. A knot at each end of the wire readily 

 prevents the cat from twisting round the post which supports 

 the wire, and a small kennel placed in the middle of the walk 

 affords her shelter and a home for her kittens. In large gardens 

 a second cat is requu*ed, and the young ones in their frequent 

 visits to each other greatly assist in scaring away the birds. I 

 have for more than thirty years used, andseen used with perfect 

 success, this easy method of protecting fruit, and the very same 

 plan is equally good in keeping hares and rabbits off flower- 

 beds. After the first few days cats in no way dislike this partial 

 restraint, and when set quite free, after a few weeks' watching, 

 they will of their own accord continue on guard. The kittens, 

 more especially, attach themselves to this garden occupation, 

 and of their own accord become the gardener's best allies. 



GEAFTING.— No. 8. 



What the French call Greffe en Placage is what has been 

 long known in this country as " spUce-grafttng." It is 

 generally adopted for certain trees and shrubs when the scion 

 is in a state of growth, and also for propagation under hand- 

 glasses. It is done in the open air or in a propagating house 

 at the rise of the sap rather than at its descent, and is 

 particularly applicable to evergreens. A stock with the sap 

 just on the move and a free scion are the two conditions. Tlie 

 scion may be either of the current year or of the preceding 

 one, according as the grafting is done in autumn or in spring. 

 Its length varies from 2 to 6 inches, and should be cut slant- 

 ing, without the least inequality, so as to fit it exactly to the 

 stock. If it is an evergreen, the leaves are to be retained, 

 and it is to be taken from the parent tree at the time of graft- 

 ing. A corresponding cut to that on the scion is made on the 

 stock, and the union of the two parts takes place without any 

 spht of the wood by simple appUeation on the top or the side 

 of the stock, either under the bark or without it, and with one 

 or more scions. 



Ordinary spUce-grafting is done by simply taking a slice of 

 bark off the side of a stock to the depth of the first layer of 

 the alburnum, and then cutting a corresponding slice slantingly 

 thi-ough the scion, applying their surfaces, and binding them 

 close together with bast or cotton ligatures. 



In crown sphce-gi'afting the scion A should not be cut sloping 

 right thi-ough, but should have a shoulder, e, at the top of the 



out, as ni crown -grafting, to rest it on the crown of the'stoek. 

 Correspondmg cuts, tl, ,1, d, il, are to be made m the crown of 

 the stock c, in which to fit the scions ; and when this opera 

 tiou IS completed, as is shown at E, they are to be bound with 

 a ligature and protected with grafting clay or wax. 



In the illustration the bai-k alone has been taken off ; the 

 albumnm has not been interfered with. A thick tree would 

 be easier to graft than a thin-stemmed one, because the latter 

 would have such a sharj} curve that a portion of the alburnum 

 would have to be sUced off m order to fit-on the flat section 

 of the scion. In the case of an old stock with thick bai-k there 

 IS a danger of the graft shifting beneath the tie. The remedy 



is to cut the slice so as to leave the sloping part toler.ably thick, 

 or, better, to place something between the graft and the tying 

 — say the piece of bark removed from the stock. Besides, in 

 making ready the place for the scion, the strip of bark need 

 not be separated from the stock, but may be left attached to 

 it, and bound up along with the scion. 



There are two periods at which this mode of grafting can be 

 performed — namely, at the rise of the sap in March or Ajiril, and 

 at its descent in September or October. — Baltet, £ '--i rt de Greffe r. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



We have to record the death of one of our veteran 

 botanists. Dr. Roeekt Wight, F.R.S., who died May 2Gth, at 

 his residence, Grazcley Lodge, near Reading, at the age of 76. 

 Dr. Wight was a native of East Lothian, and very early in life 

 entered the medical service of the East India Company, and 

 while in this employment devoted his energies to the investiga- 

 tion of the then almost unknown flora of the British posses- 

 sions in India. In 1834 he pubUshed, in conjunction with the 

 late Professor Amott, the first volume of the " Prodromus 

 Flora; India; Orientalis," a work which was never continued- 

 Further contributions to Indian botany were contained in his 

 " Illustrations of Indian Botany," "Icones Plautarum India: 

 Orientalis," and " SpicUegium NeUgherrense," and in innumer- 

 able contributions to magazines and to the proceedings of 

 societies. His name will also always be associated with his 

 exertions towards the introduction of the cultivation of cotton 

 into India. Dr. ^V^ght was one of a band of botanists, to which 

 Sir W. Hooker, Lindley, and Arnott belonged, who have now 

 almost entirely passdaway. — (Nattire.) 



Death or Mk. Rose. — It is but three months ago that it 



was our painful duty to record the loss of Mr. Ingram, who had 

 been gardener to four of our monarchs, and who, after more than 

 half a century's service, retu-ed from the management of tho 

 Koyal Gardens at Frogmore ; and to-day we have to announce 

 the decease of his much-esteemed successor, Mr.. Hectob Rose, 

 which took place on the .5th inst. He was well known as an 

 excellent gardener, and though he had not been more than 

 three years at Frogmore, there, as at Floors Castle, where he 

 was gardener to the Duke of Roxburghe, he won good opinions 

 on all sides. 



PORTRAITS OP PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS. 



CvPEiPEDiuii LONGiFOLiuM (Long-leavcd Lady's-shpper)^ 

 Nat. ord., Orchidaceie. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. — Avery 

 tall and handsome plant, though its flowers are not so beauti- 

 ful as those of other species, being yellowish green stained 

 partially with dull purple. It was discovered by M. Warszewicz 

 in the Cordillera of Chiriqui, Central America, at elevations 

 between 5-8000 feet. Mr. I3ull, nurseryman, Chelsea, ex- 

 hibited it at the January meeting of the Horticultural Society. 

 —{Bot. Map., t. 5970.) 



Geevillea eosmaeinifolia (Rosemary-leaved Grevillea). 

 Xat. ord., Proteaces. Linn., Tetrandiia Mouogynia. — Native 

 of New South Wales, where it was discovered in 1822 by Mr. 

 A. Cunningham. It is a robust dark-foUaged evergreen, thriv- 

 ing in the open air in the west of England, but requiring a. 

 greenhouse or sheltered wall elsewhere. Its flowers are in 

 dense racemes, deep crimson, tipped with greenish yellow. — 

 (Ibid., t. 5971.) 



AsiEEosTiGMA Luschnathiaxum. A'rt^ or(f., Aroideffi. Linn., 

 Mona'cia Polyandria. — Amateurs will more readily compre- 

 hend the form of this plant when we add that it was named at 

 its first discovery Ai-um Dracontium, though it differs very 

 much from the plant so named and described in our botanical 

 works. It is a Brazihan species, and now for the first time in- 

 troduced into Europe. 'The spathe is green speckled with 

 brown, the anthers of the spadix are scarlet, the leaf is pinnati- 

 fid, the stalk banded with dark purple streaks. — {Ibid., (.5972.), 



OLE.iEiA dentata (Toothcd Oloaria). A'a*. orrf., Composita;. 

 Linn., Syugenesia superflua. — The form of its flowers will be at 

 once appreciated by our stating that it was formerly included in 

 the genus Aster, and had the various specific names appUed of 

 dentatus,tomentosus,andferrugineus. Dr. Hooker says, "This 

 is one of the beautiful Daisy-trees of the Austrahan" colonies, 

 a genus of plants many of which would thrive well and form 

 great ornaments in the gardens of the nuld part of western 

 England, and some of which stood for several winters in 

 sheltered water at Kew, but were lolled during recent cold winters. 



" The present species forms a fine bush in the Scilly Isles, 

 where it was introduced by Augustus Smith, Esq., into his 



