GRAFTING THE ROSE. 91 
that no ligament should be removed, nor shake given to the parts newly 
placed in contact, till they are perfectly healed; any jar to the scion 
when placed is likely to defeat the purpose. 
Grafting.—If you have a good choice of shoots in March from your 
trees, which you desire should not be wasted, examine your shoots after 
pruning each tree, select those which are the finest, and place their 
thickest ends (taking care that the produce of each tree be tied in a 
separate bundle and ticketed) in a lump of moist clay an inch deep, 
pinch the clay tight round them, and then put the lump of clay in a 
pot full of earth (leaving the shoots out) until ready for use. It must 
be remembered that at the end of each shoot there will probably be 
one or more buds open; these must be carefully cut off from the shoot 
or they will infallibly exhaust the others. 
Let the shoots remain for three weeks in an outhouse, or any place 
neither very dry nor very damp, where neither wind nor sun can come 
in contact with them. 
During the first week in March, cut off your stock (in which the 
sap should be beginning to rise) horizontally ; makea slit in it straight 
downwards, of a couple of inches, or an inch and a half long, taking 
care not to injure the sides of the bark. 
Take the shoot in the left hand, and leaving three buds upon it, or 
two if the stock be not large; cut the lower extremity of the shoot in 
the shape of a wedge, the back being rather the thinnest, and the 
lowest bud abont half an inch above the thick end of the wedge. In 
doing which care must be taken that the bark be undisturbed, and 
each scion so cut that all the buds point outwards, or at any rate be so 
placed that the shoots from them may not interfere with each other. 
With the end of your budding-knife, or a little wooden or ivory 
wedge, open the slit in the stock on one side, and then place the scion 
with the thickest part or front outwards in the other, taking care that 
the edge of the inner bark or liber of the scion touches the edges of 
the inner bark of the stock, all the way down; pull out the wedge and 
enter another scion in its place, the slit being kept open by the first ; 
if the size of the scion be half the size of the stock, you may leave a 
shoulder to the scion, and thus increase the chances of success. 
Any number of scions may be inserted in the same stock, but from 
one to four are all that are desirable in the present case, to cover well 
over the head of the stock, which is apt to receive much injury from 
the weather, if not carcfully attended to. 
The object of laying by the scious is that the stock may be the 
forwardest, and be enabled to supply the sap and force them forward at 
once, instead of lingering while they perish from exposure and want 
of nourishment. 
When the shoots are on, tie up the whole with a bass ligament, to 
prevent the scions from ever shifting, and then cover the whole beneath 
the lowest bud with grafting clay, taking care to exclude air, sun, and 
rain. If the clay crack it must be renewed, not by shifting but by 
filling up the crack. 
In about six months the clay may be removed, and the wound 
covered with mixture; this latter must on no account be omitted. 
