CHAT. IV.] GRAFTING. 93 



a little tallow, melted together, and thoroughly- 

 incorporated. This is thinly spread on pieces 

 of coarse cotton, and used in strips like cere- 

 cloth. In crafting trees that have a soft and 

 delicate bark, fine moss and cotton wool tied 

 on with ligatures of bast mat are better than 

 anything else, and they are generally quite suf- 

 ficient for every purpose in which grafting is 

 employed by ladies. A composition partly 

 made with caoutchouc, is now often used in- 

 stead of the common grafting-clay. 



The essential points to be attended to in 

 grafting are : choosing a stock and a scion 

 that correspond in nature and in habits of 

 growth; cutting the parts to be united so as 

 to fit exactly, and leave no vacuity between ; 

 taking care that the soft wood of the scion 

 shall "always rest on the soft wood of the 

 stock, as it is between these parts that the 

 union is to be effected ; binding the parts 

 closelv together, and covering them so as to 

 prevent them from becoming so dry as to 

 shrink apart, in which case the vessels would 

 wither and become incapable of uniting. 



Uses of Grafting and Budding. — The ob- 

 vious use of grafting is to propagate varieties 

 that cannot so easily be continued by seed, and 

 that will not strike by cuttings. There is, 

 however, another use nearly as important ; and 

 this is, to make plants flower and fruit sooner 

 than they would otherwise do. There are 

 many plants that only flower at the extremity 

 of their shoots ; and these plants, when tender, 

 would require enormous plant-houses before 

 they would be thrown into flower or fruit. To 



