214 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUr.E AXD COTTAGE GABDEMEB. 



[ Mucb 30, Ie6& 



should be nmdo firm by treodiiiR, ftfi soon as the plants are 

 established and nnilchod ns above : I have never found this to 

 fail in producing a pnod crop of fruit. — John 5Iav, IVciliield, 

 Havant, JiaiUt. 



STOCKS FOR GllAFTIXG ON, AND THE 

 3. RESULTS. 



'•HowE\-EB artificial the process of grafting may appear to 

 those who for the first time see it performed, it has its counter- 

 part in nature : branches of trees ovorlying and prossinR against 

 each other eventually unite, and no doubt it was an example of 

 this kind that first led some exporimeutftlist to try to bring 

 about the same result by tying two such branches together, or 

 perhaps branches belonging to different trees. Success would 

 induce further experiments, and eventually a scion taken from 

 one plant and inserted in another was found to grow when the 

 operation was performed at the proper season and in a suitable 

 manner. The process mo.'it likely to lead to success was no 

 doubt found out by degrees and after a due number of failures. 

 How many centuries ago this portion of our craft was in course 

 of perfecting itself, it is needless to inquire ; but as there was 

 no JorKNAi, OF HoRTK-ULTt'RE in those days, and the modes 

 of disseminating information of evei-y kind were slow and im- 

 perfect, we may readily infer that a new mode of effecting the 

 desired abject might not unlikely remain for a longtime known 

 only to the operator, especially if he assimied that "mysterious 

 secrecy in the matter which stUl lingered amongst some " knife- 

 men " in large nurseries as lately as thirty or forty years ago, 

 or perhaps still later than that. \ stranger happening to stop 

 and look at these mysterious workers was a signal that their 

 knives wanted sharpening, that some scion had to be sought 

 after, or that some work or other iu the distance had to be 

 done ; thus the inquisitive looker-on never came at the right 

 time to see the operation performed. Happily these times 

 have passed away, and though dexterity iu the manipulation 

 enables one man to be more successful than another, there is 

 no secret in the affair, and practice and expenence, aided by 

 other favourable circumstances, usually meet with success. 



The out-door grafting of fruit trees is a very common affair 

 in counties where orchards abound, and is often done vei^y ex- 

 tensively by ordinary labourers. Certainly some little know- 

 ledge is necessary, but the time at which the work is done has 

 more to do with the success than the mode of carrying it out. 

 In Kent it is deferred till much later in the spring than is the 

 custom in many places, and the result is usually satisfactory. 

 I have seen several thousand scions put on in May, and nearly 

 all grev.'. There is, however, a description of grafting much 

 more difficult than that of ordinai-y fruit trees, the parts oper- 

 ated upon being so much smaller, and in some cases the affinity 

 between stock and gi-aft is not so great, leading to more uncer- 

 tainty, and these cases seem muitiphing every year. Thus 

 any choice plant that it is necessary to propagate quickly, is 

 at once " worked " in some way or other, and this " working." 

 as it is called in nnrsen,- phrase, comprehends a considerable 

 series of objects differing materially from each other, and, as 

 stated above, their number is yearly extending ; for not content 

 with operating upon the class of plants having woody fibre, 

 fleshy-rooted herbaceous plants now and then are grafted, and 

 with success. 



Of all the jilants subjected to the operation of the knife, in 

 the way of grafting, the Cactus is perhaps the most quickly 

 and easily grafted, while some skill and dexterity is required 

 to operate on a hundred Camellias and get ninety-nine of them 

 to grow, and I believe there are many plants more difficult 

 than this, and resinous plants are not always the most success- 

 folly managed. With many of the classes of variegated pLints 

 the chances of success are greater. Hollies are worked by the 

 hundred, and the new deciduous plants with remarkable foliage, 

 recently introduced from Japan, are no doubt thus propagated 

 to tlie utmost extent that a skilful propagator can, and where 

 stocks of a suitable kind are forthcoming, there seems to be no 

 reason to doubt the after-success of the worked plants, whilst 

 the peculiarities of each sort will in due time he presented by 

 a greater number of individuals than there could have been 

 had each plant been supported by its own roots only. 



Grafting is also often performed by amateurs and experi- 

 mentalists for purposes of curiosity only, and sometimes with 

 rather singular results. I remember its being stated, about forty 

 years ago, that when the purple Cytisus was budded or grafted 

 oa the Laburnum (which it often was in those days), and did 



not succeed, the contact of the bud or scion with the stock 

 nevertheless exorcised on tlio latter an effect thot could be dis- 

 cerned in the bark, sap, or foliage. I believe the name to be 

 the case with the Copper Beech, but of this I am not so certain. 

 Grafting, however, is often practised on plants that may be 

 termed only half-sl»rubby, or, in some cases, purely herbaceous. 

 ^Vhen double Dahlias first made their appearance, it was 

 thought that the best way to increase them was by grafting the 

 yonng shoots on the fleshy tubers of single varieties, which, 

 like the single Camellia, were obtained in greater abundance. 

 Geraniums have also often enough been giafled, but more for 

 curiosity than with a view to multiplying the variety ; and the 

 same may be said of the Fuchsia. Azaleas, however, are now 

 almost all subjected to the " working " system, and with good 

 results ; and Ithododendrons of the best varieties could never 

 have been increased so rapidly had recourse not lieen had to 

 the assistance of other less-favoured members of the family 

 to act as stocks, ^any other plants are in a like manner in- 

 creased to a wonderful extent by grafting and budding, and 

 more are daily being subjected to these modes of propagation. 



It need not be wondered at that a proceeding so fraught with 

 advantages should also have its drawbacks, that now and 

 then dillerences of opinion should exist as to some of its de- 

 tails, that there should be differences of opinion on the merits 

 of the stocks used. I believe Mr. Barnes, of the Camberwell 

 Nursery, was tl>e first to point out the best stock on which to 

 work the Indian Azalea, and a few years ago there was some 

 contention amongst Bose-growers, as to whom was due the 

 merit of first trying the Manetti stock for the Rose ; latterly, 

 however, there has been some difference of opinion about this 

 stock, and the liriar has been again put forward. Of the re- 

 spective merits of these stocks it is not my intention to offer 

 an opinion ; but I would Uke to see both dispensed with if 

 Roses could be coaxed to grow on their own roots. This sub- 

 ject, however, has been already discussed by several writers in 

 the JouBNAL OF HoKTicvLTriiE, and, in connection with it, I 

 wUl only allude to a plan that has been of late adverted to by 

 several — that of planting Roses worked on the Manetti so deeply 

 as to bury part of the plant as well as the stock, a proceeding 

 which is said to facilitate the production of roots above the 

 graft, and some writers have advised the stock and lower 

 roots to be cut away when the upper tier are formed. If 

 the Manetti is of no further use than this plan would imply 

 the sooner it is done away with the better, and the plant 

 started on its own roots, instead of having to suffer the in- 

 convenience of its foundation being cut away. Besides, un- 

 less the plants are worked very low indeed, planting them in 

 their final quarters so much deeper in the ground than they 

 were before, must be hurtful in other ways, as there are 

 comparatively few plants that like to be pltinted so deeply, how- 

 ever prone they may be to send their roots downwards. We 

 ought as far as possible to imitate Nature in all her works, but 

 we see no instance in which she buries the collar below the 

 surface, why, therefore, should we do so ? Assuredly the result 

 is no better". It ma}', however, be said, that transplanting is 

 an artificial proceeding altogether, and so it is, for with the ex- 

 ception of trees or plants being tora up and washed away by 

 floods in rivers, or such tornados as we hear of in tropical 

 countries, and deposited somewhere by accident where they 

 can glow, the transplanting of trees by natural means is less 

 common than grafting, so that there is no analogy between the 

 two; but layering is a purely natural mode of midtiplying 

 plants, and seed stUl more so, and rooting in both these cases 

 is from the suiface. All this has been repeatedly urged by the 

 advocates for shallow planting. 



Instead of pursuing the subject of Rose stocks further, I will 

 now enter on that of stocks as adapted for fruit trees, which 

 has again, for at least the twentieth time, occasioned discussion 

 in the pages of gardening periodicals, and latterly I was sorry to 

 see' that a bitterness of spirit was imported into the matter which 

 ought not to have been, especially as the difference of opinion 

 seems to be one Ukely to affect all kinds of grafted or worked 

 plants, and I may add many that are not worked. In other 

 words, it may be taken for granted that every tree planted 

 deeper than is good for it, endeavours to correct the error that 

 it made, by directing its roots to the surface, or if it is in- 

 capable of so doing, it will in many cases emit roots from that 

 part of its stem which is just sufficiently below the surface to 

 protect the roots when young from the effects of dry weather ; 

 or, where sufficient moisture can be obtained, the roots are 

 formed on the veiT surface, as sometimes is the case with 

 Willows in swampy ground ; or a still more notable example is 



