10 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1889. 



a natural way. Many plants snceecd as o^raftcd wlien yonnor, 

 or for a few 3'ears, and al'tcrwards fail, and tlioti the fjarduner is 

 often blamed instead of tlic nurseryman. — F. W. Burhidge. 



*** We should not plant any grafted tree or shrub whatever 

 so far as what arc called "ornamental" trees and shrubs are con- 

 cerned. There may be reason for the universal grafting of fruit 

 trees, though we dou!)t it. But of the serious injury wrought by 

 grafting in other ways there are heaps of evidence. The evils 

 are more serious than have been stated in The Garden. — Ed. 



Does not experience here in America, confirm that absolute 

 dictum ? What wealth of Rhododendrons has been dissij)ated 

 in the futile efibrt to unite those between whom Nature had 

 decreed an insuperable barrier ! Take for another exam))le the 

 Primus triloba of quite recent introduction and ol)vious charm ! 

 likely to renew olden memories of the Flowering Almond. 

 Flourishing for a season in rich luxuriance, and all at once drop- 

 ping off in a species of collapse, as it were, alike sudden and hopeless. 

 Roses, on alien roots, are a delusion and snare. Propagation in that 

 way offers no advantages over the simpler method of natural 

 growth to which layering and subdivision afford ample subven- 

 tion. The eager greed of the professional dealer overreaches 

 itself. Identity may be transmuted, but maturation must be of 

 gradual development. Exhaustion supervenes upon inoculation 

 with a growth that has been so hurried as to allow neither accre- 

 tion nor storage of vital forces. It sui)plies an apt illustration of 

 that haste which makes waste with almost invariable assurance. 



Mr. Robinson does not so emphatically condemn the practice of 

 grafting, among Pomologists. But its evils must be apparent 

 enough to such an acute observer, as he looks upon the currant 

 and gooseberry '■'trees'*^ of which perpetuation by a layering or ^ 

 sub-division has been rendered impossible. Does not grafting 

 open a young heaven, as it were, to the lazy Horticulturist? 

 Somebody else alike atnbitious and energetic, has taken pains to 

 sow, cultivate and test, until the point of approbation was reached. 

 His neighbor tastes, — likes the flavor and begs scions. There 

 was promise of a step forward. Has it not come to a halt ? The 

 medical faculty speak of "healing from the first intention." But 

 they would not be understood as conveying the impression that in 



