THE PROPAGATING HOUSE 



more especially as regards temperature, the roses reaping consider- 

 able advantage from a bottom heat we should consider too great 

 for the shrubs. 



In grafting hard-wooded hardy subjects we proceed along similar 

 lines to those already described for roses, and set forth in Vol. Ill 

 of this series, with one particular and 

 important exception we do not behead 

 the stock but graft the scion on to its 

 side. The stock is not decapitated till 

 the union between itself and the scion 

 is effected, and the reasons we might 

 give for this are the comparative slug- 

 gishness of the sap which calls for 

 every inducement to activity (and this 

 only the active top growth can assist), 

 and also that if the scion fails to unite, 

 the stock has still a value and can be 

 planted out with others of its kind in 

 the nursery quarters. There may be 

 other technical reasons, not perhaps 

 known to the practical man, but we 

 only care to state the deductions we 

 have made from our own extended ex- 

 perience ; these alone we feel ourselves 

 in a position to defend. 



Our annual list of subjects for graft- 

 ing comprise the following : variegated 

 hollies, ligustrums, golden and other 

 cupressus, variegated yews, thuja aurea, 

 golden junipers, variegated and other ivies. 

 Occasional subjects include lilac, rhododendrons, azaleas, rhus, 

 daphnes, etc., and in the great majority of these the treatment is 

 almost identical. Some of them have hard, unyielding wood, and 

 the operator has to depend upon the trueness and accuracy of his 

 work, as with roses, to make a satisfactory fit ; but the wood of most 

 of the conifers is more plastic, and will so give to the pressure of 

 the ligature that any slight irregularities in the cut are obviated. 

 Still, good clean knife-work ought always to be the rule and may be 



FIG. 5. Thuja grafted 



