164 INARCHING INDIAN CORN. 



sioually trimming in their established growth ; cutting away 

 also any decayed flower-spikes in autumn. You may take 

 rooted offsets from established plants in March, April, Au- 

 gust or September, cuttings from the stalks in April and 

 May ; also rootless slips of the young shoots in June or 

 July. After May, shade for a time, or plant in a shady bor- 

 der. If for culinary purposes, the distance from plant to 

 plant may be nine inches ; in the physic garden, eighteen 

 inches or two feet. Water at planting, and twice or thrice 

 a week in dry weather till rooted." Abercrombie. 



Use. The leaves and young shoots are occasionally used 

 as a pot-herb, and the leafy tops and flower-spikes are cut, 

 dried, and preserved for medicinal purposes. They are 

 particularly recommended in humoral asthmas, coughs, and 

 other disorders of the breast and lungs. 



INARCHING. This method of engrafting is used, 

 when the stock intended to graft on, and the tree from 

 which the graft is taken, stand so near (or can be brought 

 so near) that they may be joined together. The method 

 of performing the operation is as follows : 



Take the branch you would inarch, and, having fitted it 

 to that part of the stock where you intend to join it, pare 

 away the rind and wood on one side about three inches in 

 length. After the same manner cut the stock or branch in 

 the place where the graft is to be united, so that the rind 

 of both may join equally together, that the sap may meet; 

 then cut a little tongue upwards in the graft, and make a 

 slit in the stock downward to admit it ; so that, when they 

 are joined, the tongue will prevent their slipping, and the 

 graft will more closely unite with the stock. Having thus 

 placed them exactly together, they must be tied with some 

 bass ; then cover the place with grafting-clay, to prevent 

 the air from entering to dry the wound, or the wet from 

 getting in to rot the stock ; you should also fix a stake in 

 the ground, to which that part of the stock, and likewise the 

 graft, should be fastened, to prevent the wind from break- 

 ing them asunder. In this manner they should remain 

 about four months, when the graft may be cut from the 

 mother tree, sloping it off close to the stock, and at the 

 same time covering the jointed parts with fresh grafting clay. 



INDIAN CORN. Zea. We shall not undertake to 

 state the various methods employed for the field-culture of 

 this valuable vegetable, with which it is presumed our 

 readers are, generally, acquainted. But as it is often 

 wanted as a culinary article, for early use, and cultivated in 



