136 THE GRAPE. 



it is requisite to keep the latter in a cool but damp place 

 Where there is an ice-house, they may be laid on the 

 inside upon the covering, or, in want of that convenience, 

 they should be buried beneath the soil, in as cool a place 

 as can be found. There is no occasion to enter into a sci- 

 entific disquisition on grafting, or to explain the various 

 methods of doing it ; our object is gained in this case, if 

 the best be illustrated. Cleft grafting is, perhaps, the most 

 suitable, while it is also the most simple, and is as follows : 

 When the shoots have grown some eight or ten inches, cut 

 off the head close to the ground, smooth over the top, and 

 with a knife or sharp chisel cleave down the stem about 

 two inches, put in a wedge to keep it open for the time 

 being, and cut the graft to fit, making a notch where it 

 rests upon the stock, to keep it firm ; if two be fixed in 

 the same way, only each on opposite sides, there will be 

 a double chance of certainty, when, if both take, the 

 weakest may be cut out. Care must be used in fixing the 

 graft, that the bark unites with that of the stock, for on 

 this nice point all success depends. Take out the wedge, 

 and wrap around with soft woollen yarn, or bast-mat; 

 cover over the top of the stock, and to a little below the 

 graft, with grafting- wax, or moistened clay; afterwards 

 heap over the whole a portion of soil, so as to form a small 

 mound, leaving the top of the graft uncovered. Fig. 27 

 shows (a) the scion, (b) the stock, 

 and (c) both, after the operation. 



Another way, termed Side- Graft- 

 ing (fig. 28), is to cut in a slant- 

 ing direction, one-third through the 

 stock, and prepare the graft to fit 

 wedge-form into it, care being taken 

 that the bark of both fits exactly on one side ; the tying, 



