314 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



quired. The Spircea prunifolia and Reevsii, and Weigela rosea, should be kept out of doors, 

 and two or three brought in to force every two or three weeks. The former can be forced 

 into bloom in three weeks. The Rhododendrons, Laurustinus, Pittosporums, Azaleas, and 

 Camellias, should be planted in the coolest and shadiest part of the house. In the above list 

 every plant is excluded that is either difficult of cultivation, very expensive, or that continues 

 in bloom but a short time and Jurnishes but few flowers. 



Grafted Plants. 



IT is, we think, incontestable, that although two plants of different species may be made to 

 form a mutual adhesion by the process of grafting, yet that such adhesions are seldom if ever 

 permament, or even advantageous to the vigor of the scion. It is only when varieties of the 

 same species are worked on each other that a perfectly sound and durable union is effected ; 

 and not always even then, as we see when a fast-growing apple-tree is grafted upon a dimi- 

 nutive variety, such as the Paradise. If the union is to be perfect, and the double or grafted 

 plant to be in all respects as healthy as either of its parents, the two must grow at the same 

 rate, must have their sap in action at the same instant of time, and the quality of their secre- 

 tions, be they what they may, must be identical. This happens when pear-trees grow on 

 pear-trees, or apples on apples, of similar habits. It does not happen in the same degree 

 when pears are grafted on quinces, or peaches are budded on the varieties of plum ; for, 

 although we employ such stock, and with advantage, it is expressly because there is so much 

 difference in the constitution of the scion and stock as to diminish the rate of growth of the 

 former ; and although the peach will live for many years on the plum, yet all gardeners know 

 how great is their tendency to separate. In fact, if an old peach-tree worked on a plum stock 

 be allowed to dry, and is then so placed horizontally that the point (of graft and stock) rests 

 without support between two upright posts, and then receive a violent blow, the stock and 

 scion will come asunder t as if no organic union had ever been effected. Had the peach been 

 worked on the peach under equally favorable conditions, no such fracture would be practicable. 



Wherever we look we are met with evidence of this fact. A man may graft a cherry on a 

 common laurel, a cedar of Lebanon on a larch, or a China upon a dog-rose, and we all know 

 that salable plants are thus manufactured. But it will soon cease to be worth while for the 

 trade to form such plants, seeing that buyers now generally learn that they are merely ephe- 

 meral curiosities. If any one doubt this, let him inquire how many of the thousands of worked 

 coniferae which have come into market within the last twenty years are still alive. It would 

 turn out, we have little doubt, that the only healthy specimens now discoverable are those of 

 varieties of the same species or closely-allied species, worked on each other, as the yellow- 

 berried yew on the common yew, or the deodar on the cedar of Lebanon. From Gard. Chron. 

 (Florist.} 



Preserving Tender Flower-Roots. 



QUITE a number of beautiful summer flowers may be preserved by the most simple means. 

 The dahlia may be taken as the type of the class we have reference to. Many, no doubt, lose 

 their roots during winter, and wonder why. They should be cut off close to the ground after 

 the first sharp frost has destroyed their beauty, taken out of the soil without breaking the 

 roots, and placed in the sun till they have become perfectly dry. In winter, they simply 

 require to be jjist kept free from frost, and in a naturally dry cellar or place where fires do not 

 dry the atmosphere. If kept in a damp place, they will rot, and if in a place where much 

 fire-heat is used, they will dry up. If placed in a box, with some perfectly dry sand among 

 them, and kept as above, success will be certain. 



The following are plants that are easily kept this way, the first two doing better than if 

 raised by seed the usual way : 



Four-o'clocks, (Mir ab His jalap a ;) Scarlet-flowering Bean, (Phaseolus multiflorus ;) Dahlias; 

 Jacobean Lily, (Amaryllis fomosissima ;} Tiger Flower, (Ferraria pavonia and conchiflora ;) 

 Corn Flag, ( Gla diolus gandavensis and floribunda ;) Tuberose, (Polyanthus tuberosa ;) some of 

 the iris and lilies that are tender, and the Madeira vine. Country Gentleman. 



