118 ENGllAFTING. 



wards, raise a thin slice of the wood and bark, taking 

 in all the breadth of the first cut, and extending 

 to about half an inch in length. This is supposed 

 to resemble a tongue, and hence this mode of the 

 operation is called tongue grafting: prepare the 

 slip, which should not be above six inches long, in 

 a similar way; and it is no matter whether it be 

 the top, middle, or under section of last year's 

 shoot that you so prepare ; giving it the like sloping 

 cut, and raise up the like tongue from the middle 

 of that cut ; then apply the slip to the stock, 

 making the bark of both even on one side, insert- 

 ing the one tongue beneath the other, and giving 

 as much pressure downwards as to make a close 

 neat joining. Apply the bandage, taking care not to 

 twist, but to lay it flat, and with no more tightness 

 than is sufficient to keep the parts in contact. Take 

 then a handful of prepared clay, and press it all 

 round the tying in the form of an egg, smoothing 

 it with a little water, and making it adhere to the 

 bark both of twig and stem, so as to exclude the 

 air. In claying, the chief care is not to disturb 

 the joint; and if you have reason to think that any 

 derangement has taken place, you must punish 

 yourself by beginning the work afresh; that being 

 less vexatious than the subsequent discovery of a 

 bungled job, which can admit of no remedy for 

 twelve months to come. 



As no small help to the success of the opera- 

 tion, take a piece of thick brown paper, and wrap 

 it round the clay, including also the scion as in a 



