168 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



the uniting forces of totli are trought into full play- 

 along tlie whole line of contact, and the union is 

 completed in the least possible time, and becomes so 

 perfect as scarcely to be discernible. 



At one time a union of bark was held to be all- 

 important, but it has long been known that the 

 cambium under the bark is the force that unites scion 

 and stock into one tree. Hence the importance of 

 fixing inner bark to inner bark in stock and scion to 

 insure success. 



Good Workmansliip. — This includes swift- 

 ness, smoothness, stability, and impenetrability. 

 From the time that the stock is beheaded not a mo- 

 ment should be lost in the manipulation of stock 

 and scion. A sloping cut on each of equal length 

 and equal diameter will, when the two are bound 

 together, form the two into one diameter, as if 

 nothing had happened. Only practice can give 

 such proficiency as to enable the operator with two 

 cuts to manipulate scion and stock into proper form ; 

 but when this can be done, a better fit will be in- 

 sured than is possible by any amount of future 

 whittling. Fresh wounds also unite much more 

 quickly than those exposed to the air. Rapid ma- 

 nipulation also favours smoothness. Such cuts will 

 generally slope at a regular angle from base to 

 summit, and leave no irregular or jagged edges be- 

 hind them ; a perfect fit is thus insured. To insure 

 stabiHty, the tying should follow the fitting, and be 

 completed at once. This can hardly be too tight, 

 and care should be taken not to displace the two 

 parts in the winding of the tie from base to summit 

 of the wound. The good old plan of also fixing a 

 support to the scion, to prevent its being displaced 

 by the wind, is as much needed as ever, especially in 

 the case of standard trees grafted high. A stake 

 should be firmly fixed to the stock and carried up be- 

 yond the summit of the scion, and to this support the 

 scion is securely fixed. The first tie gives perfect 

 stability at starting, the second insures it until the 

 stability resulting from growth renders artificial 

 props needless. 



The last aim of good workmanship in grafting 

 is impenetrability. To hasten and consolidate a 

 healthy union between stock and scion, light, air, 

 and water should be excluded. The sap and young 

 wood in a state of incipient formation — the extend- 

 ing roots, the bursting buds, and the expanding 

 leaves — are the imiting forces employed. These 

 have only to be protected from external attack or 

 interference, and they will assuredly complete their 

 work by moulding scion and stock into one tree. 

 Hence the efficacy of all clayings, cementings, and 

 waxings is exactly in the ratio of their impenetra- 

 bility. Their action is wholly mechanical, and in no 



sense healing or medicinal ; and thus it happens that 

 one grafting composition is just as good as another, 

 so long as it excludes rain, air, and, to some extent, 

 light, till the wounded tissues have united. So soon 

 as this happens, all such substances are better re- 

 moved, either tentatively or at once. 



So soon as the union is complete, and the scion 

 starts into growth, there will also be an enlargement 

 of the diameter of the young Apple-tree, and its de- 

 mand for more room should be met with the prompt 

 removal of the ties that bound the scion and stock 

 together. Should there, however, be any doubt 

 about the soundness of the union, a second or looser 

 tie may be given for a time. 



In this stage the disbudding of any wilding shoots 

 from the lower portion of the stock ; the suppres- 

 sion of suckers, if any ; and the rapid development 

 and careful moulding into form of the growing 

 Apple -shoots, will be all the attention the tree 

 will require during the first season. Of course, the 

 ground will also be kept free of weeds, and the trees 

 may be left in the rows in which they were worked 

 for another season or two, or lifted in the autumn 

 and placed in their permanent fruiting quarters, ac- 

 cording to the wants or wishes of their propagators. 



GEEEN-HOUSE PLANTS. 



Bt William Httqh Gowek. 



Eriostemon. — A genus of compact-growing 

 shrubs belonging to the order Butaoea. The name 

 signifies " woolly stamen," and is derived from the 

 hispid hairs which clothe those organs. Erioste- 

 mons are plants of easy culture, delighting in a cool 

 dry atmosphere. To secure handsome pyramidal 

 plants the main shoot must be allowed to grow erect 

 without stopping, but the lateral growths will re- 

 quire attention in order to keep the plant properly 

 balanced. The flowers are somewhat short-lived. 

 Pot in a mixture of peat, light loam, and sand, in 

 about equal parts, and drain the pots well. They 

 are all natives of Australia. 



E. biixifolimn attains a height of thi-ee to six 

 feet, but, like all the species, flowers when quite 

 small. The leaves are entire, ovate, furnished with 

 a bristle-Hke point, and deep green; flowers axil- 

 lary, numerous, somewhat star-shaped, white, more 

 or less tinged with rosy-pink. Spring and early 

 summer. 



E. cuspidatum. — A robust plant, with lanceolate 

 leaves of a glaucous hue, furnished with a recurved 

 bristle at the point ; flowers rosy-pink. Summer 

 months. 



E. intermedium. — The branches slightly downy; 



