PROPAGATION. 235 



because they are required to brancli out close to the ground, 

 and in some kind of standards the trunk is required to be of 

 the new wood, and these must be grafted equally low. In 

 other kinds, the stock is made the height of the intended 

 trunk, and the gi-aft is put on the top. Where the new plant 

 is scaroe, and of weaker growth than the stock, they are al- 

 ways grafted at the height that the head is required, as roses 

 on briers, c}i;isus on laburnmn. So also when fnie heads are 

 required soon, as in thorns, mespilus, or double-flowering 

 cherries, peaches, and almonds, the stocks of all these being 

 the commonest and most ^vild and natural sorts, and the heads 

 making themselves at once. In all grafted subjects the stocks 

 must be prevented from shooting, for a very few wreeks' growth 

 of the vigorous stock would so rob the graft of its nourish- 

 ment that it would cease to grow, and finally cease to live. 

 All grafted trees and shrubs, therefore, require to be examined 

 once a-week at the least, and every shoot from the stock cut 

 off so close to the trunk as to prevent them from shooting 

 again in the same place. In the same manner, all growths 

 from the root must be cut off below the surface, not merely 

 cut down, for suckers will come up in greater plenty if they 

 are only cut off at the surface of the ground. AVhen the 

 union has taken place, which may be known by the growth, 

 the ties and the wax or clay should be removed, and the 

 growth regulated. If it be naturally in branches, remove any 

 that are too close and in each other's way, so that only such 

 as are in a right direction to form a head be left. Any 

 vigorous shoot that seems to take aU the growth to itself may 

 be shortened back to three or four leaves ; and if, as is very 

 frequently the case, the graft makes one leading shoot, let it be 

 shortened to thi'ee or four leaves or eyes, that it may be forced 

 into lateral shoots, for the first season's growth ought to be in 

 a right direction. 



RooT-GRAFTixG. — Grafting, however, does not necessarily 

 confine itself to operations above-ground. Tuberous-rooted 

 plants are often grafted on the root, or tuber. The dahlia 

 will graft easily by taking a cutting from a choice kind, and 

 first cutting a slope or a notch in a blind tuber, then forming 

 the cutting so as to fit it, gently binding it in its place, and 

 planting or potting it below the surface. The cutting will, if 

 well done, continue to grow as if it were on the parent plant. 

 The ipomea, also a tuberous root, will readily graft. A choice 



