236 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



kind lias tlius frequently been propagated rapidly. Root- 

 grafting is also practised on roses and many other subjects, 

 the only diiference in the operation being the cutting of the 

 stock off below the surface, and the cutting of the rose being 

 grafted to the root. In the autumn or winter, or very early 

 spring, when we dig among the roses, we find abundance of 

 suckers, and we may get them up with plenty of root attached. 

 Cut off the sucker, and take the roots while they are moist ; 

 either sht the root, and put the rose-cutting in like a wedge, 

 or cut a long slope to the root, and a similar slope on the 

 ripened wood of the cutting. Make them fit properly; tie 

 them together, and plant the graft below the surface. All 

 this must be done before the root has time to grow ; and very 

 few, if any, wall miss. 



Cleft-grafting. — The best graft for the vine is a cleft- 

 graft, as it IS called ; that is, the stock of the vine is split, 

 and the inside shaved out to admit the graft, which is to be 

 cut in form of a wedge, to go into it, the binding and claying, 

 or waxing over the place of union being the same as for other 

 subjects. But another method has been practised with suc- 

 cess, even while the vines are growing. Select a vigorous 

 shoot of the vine near the bottom; get a vine of the sort 

 required groAving in a pot ; shave out a piece to make a flat 

 side, pretty nearly half-way through the new shoot, which 

 should be about the same size as the shoot of the old vine, 

 which must be cut or shaved away to a flat side, so that the 

 two may fit when brought together. This done, the pot 

 should be so fixed as to enable us to bring the two flat 

 sides in contact, and let them be neatly bound together with 

 worsted. The end of the old vine-shoot must be pinched 

 off, and the new one will take up the growth. After a 

 while, it will be seen they are united, and then the pot may 

 be dispensed with, the graft being cut from it, and left on 

 the old plant, which should now be cut back as much as 

 it can be with safety, to throw all the strength into the 

 new shoot. Mr. Towers, we believe it was, who averred that 

 he had known a .growth of ten or twelve feet. The new shoot 

 has to be carefully supported, that it may not be damaged by 

 its own weight. To show how certain an operation grafting 

 is, when properly done, it is not uncommon for trees to graft 

 themselves. That is to say, it is a very familiar occurrence to 

 see, in a tree which has been blown about by the wind, two 



