CHAP. IV.] GREFFE ETOUFFEE. 91 



the stock is plunged into a bed of tan, luke- 

 warm if it be in spring, and hot if it be in 

 winter, and covered closely with a bell or hand 

 glass. The glasses ought to be taken off every 

 second day, and wiped, as too much humidity 

 will make the young plants damp off; and the 

 glasses may even be left off for an hour or 

 more occasionally, if the plants appear too 

 moist. It is not, however, absolutely essential 

 to plunge the pot in tan, if care be taken to 

 preserve the graft from the air. This last mode 

 of grafting is called la greffe etouffe'e ; and 

 la greffe des Beiges is another mode of per- 

 forming the operation by a kind of side graft- 

 ing, or rather of inarching. It consists in 

 cutting off the head of the stock, or the end 

 of one of the branches, in a slanting direction, 

 leaving a leaf and a bud above the cut on the 

 higher side ; and then cutting the scion into a 

 slanting shape, so as to fit the wound in the 

 stock exactly, and binding the two closely to- 

 gether with a strip of bast matting, but without 

 using any other covering. As soon as the 

 operation is finished, the pot containing the 

 stock is laid horizontally on a bed of dry tan, 

 or on a bed of dry moss, the branches lying on 

 the surface, and the pot being half-buried in the 

 tan or moss; the grafted part being covered 

 with a bell-glass stuffed round the bottom with 

 the moss or tan, so as to prevent a particle of 

 air from entering. This close covering is kept 

 on for a fortnight, three weeks, or a month, 

 according to the season; at the end of which 

 time, the graft will be found perfectly united to 

 the stock. Air is then admitted to the graft 

 by degrees, by first loosening and then remov- 



