VI. PLANTING. 



join so effectually as that the sap shall Jlow out of the one 

 and into the other unconscious of any division at all ! But I 

 will not suppose any body so ungain (as it is called in 

 Hampshire) as to go about so nice an operation as this 

 without being prepared with the proper instrument for 

 performing it ; and, therefore, I now suppose the scion 

 put on properly and presenting the appearance as in 

 plate 3. fig. 3. But this is not all : the operation is not 

 yet complete. The two parts thus joined must be bound 

 closely to one another by matting, or bass, as the gar- 

 deners call it (pi. 3. Jig. 4). A single piece tied on to the 

 stock an inch or so below the part grafted, and then 

 wound closely up till it reach the very top of the stock, 

 will, if well done, almost insure the junction j but, lest 

 parching winds should come and knit up all vegetation, 

 it is usual to put on, besides the bandage of matting, a 

 ball of well-beaten clay, sprinkled over with a little 

 wood-ashes, or the fine siftings of cinders, to cover com. 

 pletely the parts grafted, that is, from an inch below 

 them to an inch or so above them (pi. 3. fig. 5.) ; and 

 even to prevent this ball of clay from being washed off 

 by heavy rains, it is well to tie round it a covering of 

 coarse canvass, or else to earth up the whole plant as 

 you do peas or beans, drawing a little mound round it so 

 as nearly to reach the top of the clay. Something now 

 remains to be said on the future treatment of the grafted 

 plant. In a month's time, at least, you will see whether 

 the scion have taken j it will then be either bursting 

 forth into leaf, or it will be irrecoverably dead. In this 

 latter case, take off immediately canvass, clay, bandage 

 and dead scion, and let the stock push forth what shoots 

 it please, and recover itself. In the former case, how- 

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