38 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



carefully wound round the stock and scion. A com* 

 mon sod applied with the grass side out is often em- 

 ployed and seldom fails of answering every purpose. 

 In grafting trees of considerable size, care should he 

 taken not to cut off the whole head and branches at 

 once, but leave some of the lalteral branches to draw 

 up the sap till another season, and cut them gradually, 

 as occasion may require ; otherwise, in a hot and dry 

 summer, the trees are apt to suffer and die. Care 

 should also be taken to avoid loosening or injuring the 

 bark of the stock, by dividing the bark with a sharp 

 knife before splitting the stock. In shaping the 

 scion for insertion, the slope should be cut full one 

 inch or more in length; and by some we are advised 

 to cut the scion in such manner as to take the bulge 

 formed between the present and the last year's growth, 

 to shape and set in the stock, as in that joint or bulge, 

 the wood is open and porous to receive more readily 

 the sap from the stock. There are several different 

 methods of performing the operation of grafting, in all 

 which, it should be a general rule to adjust the inner 

 bark of the stock and of the scion in close contact, 

 and to confine them precisely in that situation. If 

 this be accurately effected, all species of grafting will 

 prove successful. In that method which is usually 

 called whip-grafting, or tongue-grafting, the top of the 

 stock and the extremity of the graft should be nearly 

 of equal diameter. They are both to be sloped off a 

 full inch or more, and then tied closely together. 

 This method may be much improved, by performing 

 what gardeners call tongueing or lipping ; that is, by 

 making an incision in the bare part of the stock, 

 downwards, and a corresponding slit in the scion, up- 

 wards ; after which they are to be carefully joined 

 together, so that the barks of both may meet in every 

 part, when a bandage of bass wood is to be tied round 

 the scion, to prevent it from being displaced ; and 



