434 CONIFEE^E. 



length ; the leaves, with the exception of two or three 

 near the top, which are to be left for the purpose of draw- 

 ing up the sap, are then to be removed by a sharp knife 

 or pair of scissors, and the slit made to receive the scion, 

 which should be taken from the extremity of the branches 

 of the kind to be grafted when in the same succulent state, 

 either the same day or the evening be- 

 fore, and kept in water or damp moss. 

 The scion need not be more than two 

 or two and a half inches long, and the 

 lower half, being deprived of its leaves, 

 is cut in the form of a thin wedge and 

 inserted and fitted into the slit of the 

 stock, in which it is further secured by 

 a ligature of soft twine, matting, or worsted twist. As 

 the exclusion of the direct rays of the sun facilitates the 

 junction of the scion with the stock, a cornet of paper 

 is usually tied to the stock, so as to 

 shade the scion from its influence. In ten 

 or fifteen days the cornet may be removed, 

 and a fortnight afterwards the union is 

 sufficiently effected to allow of the re- 

 moval of the ligature, after which the 

 upper part of the stock left with the 

 leaves on may be trimmed off, and the 

 side shoots on the lower part of the stock removed, 

 so as to throw the whole of the sap into the scion. 

 By this mode of grafting, many species and varieties 

 of the Abietina. of which it is difficult to procure a sup- 

 ply of seeds or plants may be extensively propagated, 

 as it is done with rapidity, a good workman, with an 

 assistant to prepare the scion, &c, being able to graft 

 upwards of two hundred a day. Its success, also, if done 



