286 THE BEECH. 
the stock is commonly the broadest, therefore the scion should 
be placed on the one side, bark to bark, so that the circulation 
which flows immediately under the bark may meet in both. 
Tongueing is sometimes practised in the operation ; that is 
performed by making a slit at the upper end of the incision 
nearly .a fourth of an inch long, cutting up towards the point 
on the scion, and downward on the stock, and by fitting these 
little wedges into each other, the twig is thus held in position 
till tied up, and the future junction strengthened thereby. 
Strands of bast form the most suitable ligatures. After tying, 
no time should be lost in putting on the clay, which should 
have been mixed up a month previously with an equal bulk 
of droppings from the stable. In applying it on the graft it 
should be made of suitable consistency, not too thin, lest it 
should fall off, nor too thick, lest fissures should occur and 
admit air, which should be guarded against; after a day or 
two, the clay will be dry and may be coated over with moss 
(sphagnum), or the dried mowings of lawn, etc. Should exces- 
sive drought ensue, the grafted plants may be watered over- 
head occasionally of an evening. After the inarched twigs 
have grown for two months, the top of the stock should be 
cut off above the ball of clay, and the junction with the old 
plant severed when the summer's growth is nearly completed. 
In winter or spring the young plants should be lifted, dressed, 
and removed into nursery lines, each having a stake or sup- 
port, tied below and above the graft ; and the space around 
the purple tree may be filled up with stocks, for being worked 
after a summer’s growth. By this means a tree the size of a 
gooseberry bush will yield a few dozen plants. And one 
several yards in diameter should produce several hundred 
plants every second year. When the branches of the purple 
tree are apt to get too high for this purpose they should be 
pegged down, and kept in a suitable position, or pruned off, 
so that the vigour of the lateral spray may not be weakened. 
The usual price for a strong plant of purple beech is 2s. 6d., 
and small plants two years transplanted are generally sold to 
the trade at 50s. a hundred. Although the tree forms a 
