March 25, 1869. } 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



209 



ing the flow of sap, mny weaken the energy of the plant at a 

 critical period, and prevent fertilisation. I have thought it 

 worth while, at least, to state the above facta, and would bo 

 glad to know if any of your correspondents have made similar 

 observations.— J. Simpson, Wortleij llall. 



I 



Fig. 9. 



THE PORTABLE OllCHARD. 



{Continued from page 1!>5.) 

 Now fit th'! scion on Ibo stock, as in fiy. 9, sUppins; the point 

 under the flap and tho point of the tongue into tho slit maJo 

 for it, taking care to bring the two slanting 

 portions into close contact, and, above all, being 

 quite sure that the laycr.s of living tissue art' 

 acciu-atoly joined. This can always bo managed 

 for one side, and if the cuts on the stock have 

 been made of the right size, the inner bark 

 will fit on both sides. The outer bark of tho 

 stock is generally much thicker than that of 

 the scion, therefore tho scion will stand a little 

 within the outer ecmtour of the stock. 



You must then bind tho scion and stock 

 6i-mly together, but not so violently as to bruise 

 cither of them. You should begin about tho 

 middle, and first work downwards, and then 

 wrap the yarn regularly up ; and if you have 

 put the scion properly on, tho two slanting 

 pieces at the top will be brought into close eon- 

 tact by the presence of the band. Many trea- 

 tises direct this cut to be made sloping the 

 other way, in order to form a sort of notch at 

 the top, under an idea of holding the scion on 

 by it, hut such an under-cut prevents tho sur- 

 faces being pressed into contact by the tie, 

 therefore make this cut slope in the way I have 

 described ; the top of the stock is the most 

 important point for the union to be perfect. 



Finally, apply a coating of grafting wax or 

 clay ; I prefer the wax. There is a sort manu- 

 fact\ired in Paris that is used cold, and is 

 the best I have met with ; but any of the common sorts made 

 by softening pitch with lard or tallow, &c., and used warm, 

 are far more convenient than clay, and a dozen grafts can be 

 covered up with the wax in the time required for claying one. 

 If, however, yo\i like to refresh your early memories of clay 

 pies, the application is mide thus: — Take a piece of clay about 

 as large as a rather small egg, roll it into a round ball in your 

 hands, then putting it into the palm of tho left, beat it out 

 into a flat cake with the right. Take this cake and bend it 

 round the joint, taking care to leave all the buds of the scion 

 above it, press it firmly all roimd, and point it both upwards 

 and downwards into a spindle-shaped form. You will find it 

 necessary to use cinder dust or dry sand to enable yoii to accom- 

 plish this pastry-making neatly. Of coiu-se in using the grafting 

 wax only a small quantity is applied with a brush, so as just to 

 make thejoint air-tight, and there is no fear of smotheiing the 

 lowest bud, which bud is finally to become your tree. The bud 

 on the stock below the cut first made is merely for the purpose 

 of keeping the sap at work on the side opposite to the scion, 

 and if it pushes it must be stopped by pinching the end off, and 

 later in the season the shoot must be cut clean off. 



Where the stocks are worked close to the ground, to prevent 

 evaporation, and at the same time to keep frost from the roots, 

 cover up the ground to the top of the stocks with ashes or 

 cocoa fibre. If the weather is very dry water well once a- week, 

 and a little guano added to the water will stimulate the growth 

 very much. You must remember that the success of the ope- 

 ration, supposing the joint to have been quickly and coiTcctly 

 made, depends upon vigorous root-action. Any check to the 

 growth through cold or drought is dangerous ; in working small 

 numbers both can be securely guarded against, and very few 

 failures ought to oocru-. This is the form of whip graft I recom- 

 mend. 



When the stock is very much thicker than the scion, as in the 

 case of regrafting an old tree, and in the case of very thin 

 scions, crown graftintj is to be preferred. The forms of crown 

 grafting are most numerous; a modification of Diibreuil's is the 

 best I know. He, however, advises the under-cutting I ob- 

 jected to above ; hut, excepting on this point, the plan I am 

 about to describe is mainly his. In grafting, speed is all-im- 

 portant, for if the surfaces are exposed to the air, so as to dry 

 or change colour, there is little prospect of SHCcese, and it is 



Fig. 10; 



surprising to sec how very quickly tho sap is dried up in a 

 warm spring day. On this account I adviso you to practise on 

 branches of any tree until you can work with ease, always 

 fr)llowing the same order until you have no occasion to think 

 about your steps. No work is ever done well when the mecha- 

 niial parts of it require thought at tho time. I mention this 

 because, though in crown grafting it is better to begin with the 

 scion, nevertheless, for the sake of unifonnity, I advise you 

 always to begin with tho stock. 



Cut oil', then, the top of the stock as before, and, secondly, 

 cut a slit down through the bark for a (»uplc of inches, hegin- 

 ning a little to the right of tho lowest point of the slanting top ; 

 thirdly, with the ivory spatula of your knife detach the bark 

 on the right side of the slit; if the proper season has been hit 

 the bark rises quite freely. 



Next take tho scion, and proceed exactly as before recom- 

 mended for small-wooded scions as far as the first three cuts, 

 and then, fourthly [jiij. 10), cut a very thin slice off 

 the edge which will go against the undisturbed side 

 of the bark of the stock when the scion is 8lii)))ed 

 down under the raised portion of the bark ; this 

 slip must meet the cross cut. I may observe that 

 by this method the left-hand corner of tho scion 

 overlaps the top face of the stock in such a way 

 that the alburnum must come into contact at some 

 portion of the section, and this diminishes to a great 

 extent tho chance of bad fitting. 



When the scion is pushed down under the bark, so 

 tliat the raw edge of it is in contact with the side of 

 the unraised bark, and the slant faces are touching, 

 it will sometimes, when the bark of the stock is very 

 thick, be difficult to get the bark bound closely to the 

 wood, or the right-hand side of the scion. In this 

 case put a bit of stick outside the bark, so as to press 

 it into the hollow, and then bind up as before, and 

 cover with grafting wax or clay. 



In the case of large stocks — i.e., an inch in dia- 

 meter or more, it is wise to insert two scions on opposite sides ; 

 one of these is to form the leader, and the other to be suppressed, 

 but for the first season after grafting the tree will have a short 

 supply of leaves to maintain tho roots in health, and a few more 

 scions give more foliage, and at the same time diminish the risk 

 of failure in the graft. 



As soon as the shoots from the scions are about G or 8 inches 

 in length, the ligatures require loosening. This must be done 

 cautiously, for very little will break tho still soft tissue which 

 iinites the stock atid scion. Bind up again with open turns of 

 the yarn, and only tightly enough to prevent the scion slipping ; 

 at the same time put a stick into the ground and tie it to the 

 stock below the graft, then tie the scion and stock to the stick 

 at the junction of the graft, and the scion at one or two places 

 above, so that no wind can move it. When branches of trees 

 are grafted the scions must be secured similarly, by binding the 

 stick to the branch firmly by at least two ligatures below the 

 graft. 



These steps are tedious in description, but really require very 

 little time to execute. I have grafted four hundred stocks in 

 one morning and the next afternoon, working froni 9 1 1 1 o'clock, 

 and from 2 to 6 o'clock ; that is at the rate of fifty an hour, and 

 of these not 2 per cent, missed. Work uniformly, and try to 

 make tho cuts at one stroke of the knife. At first you must 

 make several shavings to get the cuts in right form ; but as soon 

 as you have learned what they ought to be, cut boldly, and by 

 hacking up any odds and ends you will soon work expeditiously 

 and accurately. I do not know whether the goodness of their 

 Apples depi-nds upon the Americans' method of grafting or not, 

 but perhaps the "whittling" is only a way of keeping our 

 cousins' hands in practice for this art ; at any rate, whittle away 

 till you can cut truly. 



As soon as the young shoots have made ten leaves each, pinch 

 off the ends of all but the lowest. The shoot springing from the 

 eye which is just above the stock, ought to be made the main 

 stem of the young tree. liy pinching the ends off the shoots 

 from all the eyes above it, you make this shoot the leader. You 

 will find this treatment produce a much stnjnger shoot than 

 if you allow all to grow freely. In tho case of Apples and 

 Pears, you may form a very good tree by allowing tho highest 

 shoot to become the leader, and this is tho way in which most 

 gardeners proceed ; but in the case of stone fruit you will never 

 get a good tree from using an upper shoot for the leader. The 

 old bark of the scion is sure to become indtirated and the upper 

 shoots feeble, giving the tree no chance of recovering from the 



