388 On grafting the Acacia. 



been infected with the rot. The question then is, how comes it 

 that the disease has been on the increase of late years ? One 

 thing to be considered is, that there have been more trees 

 planted, especially larch trees, and less care has been taken of 

 them, than formerly. The trees are often left thick together, to 

 form cover for game, the soil in consequence soon becomes ex- 

 hausted, and the thinning at last comes with a vengeance, but too 

 late. Another question is, why fir trees die when they become 

 hollow, whereas many other trees live to a great age as hollow 

 as a drum ? The case of the firs is, however, different from that 

 of their hollow neighbours ; their disease being internal, both in 

 trunk and root, while other trees often grow hollow from some 

 external injury to branch or trunk, which does not affect their 

 roots, so that they often grow vigorously while their rind and 

 bark continue sound. 



If I am wrong in the opinion that the rot proceeds from the 

 external wood excluding the air from the heart or inside of the 

 tree, at least there can be no doubt that the seeds of decay are 

 first sown by too rapid growth ; and little do planters think, when 

 they admire the great progress of their young firs, that such 

 rapid growth is but laying the sure foundation for trees rotten 

 at heart. 



Cosset/ Hall Gardens, April 1. 1840. 



Art. VII. On grafting the Acacia. By John Brewster, Gardener 



to Mrs. Wray. 



I HAVE often lamented to see the dwarf, delicate, but still 

 beautiful, species of Acacia struggling for life among their more 

 hardy and robust brethren, and especially when the desirable 

 object of placing them in a situation calculated to show their 

 humble beauties to advantage, and impart to them a more hardy 

 and robust constitution, is so easily obtained by grafting. This 

 operation may be performed in almost any situation. Perhaps 

 the best stock would be y^cacia afFinis, owing to its rapid growth, 

 and to its being hardier than any of the rest. I have known 

 this species grown out of doors (from seed) to the height of 1 7 

 or 20 ft. in three years ! 



What a magnificent object a tree 20 ft. high, grafted with 

 perhaps fifteen or twenty species, including A. pulchella, A. dif- 

 fusa, A. Cyclops, &c., would be ! The great diversity of their 

 splendid foliage, intermixed with their beautiful flowers, would 

 form an object truly grand. 



By choosing a strong stock, and planting it out of doors in 

 the early part of May, and then, as soon as it had taken root, 

 grafting it, cutting it down to within a few eyes of each graft; or, 



