THE PINE. 433 



tree of rapid growth, becoming flat-topped and spreading 

 to a great extent when old, and rendered highly orna- 

 mental by its thick, tufted, dark green foliage. In Aus- 

 tria, its timber is considered as rather superior to that 

 of Pinus sylvestris, being tough, strong, and resinous, and 

 capable of resisting to a greater extent the effects of 

 alternate moisture and dryness. 



The only drawback we have found to the cultivation 

 of the Austrian Pine, is the liability of the young trees 

 to the attacks of hares and rabbits, which seem to prefer 

 it to any other species of fir, and are sure to find out the 

 plants, however thinly they may be disseminated in mixed 

 plantations, and, as the buds are eaten as well as the 

 foliage, they suffer an injury that is seldom repaired. In 

 districts where game of this description abounds, it might 

 be advantageous and advisable to try the herbaceous graft- 

 ing of the Pinus Austriaca upon the Common Pine, a 

 mode now adopted with great success in propagating 

 many of the tenderer and rarer of the Abietinee. Herba- 

 ceous grafting is so named from the state of both stock 

 and scion at the time of the operation, which is performed 

 when the leading shoots of the fir tribe have commenced 

 growing, and are so tender that they may be snapped off 

 by the hand, without tearing the bark, like a piece of glass 

 or the succulent stem of the young asparagus. Cleft graft- 

 ing is the mode adopted in this operation, the shoot repre- 

 senting the stock being slit so as to receive the lower part 

 of the scion, which is pared or cut into a wedge-like shape, 

 as shown in the figure. 



In performing herbaceous grafting, we are directed, in 

 the first instance, to break over the leading shoot, when 

 in a brittle state, in which it remains for only about ten 

 days or a fortnight, reducing it to four or six inches in 



2 p 



