45© THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



soil is advisable, and shallow pans or boxes are preferable to 

 deeper ones, and these should be placed in a warm greenhouse to 

 assist vegetation. Such sorts as R. ponticmn, R. viaximimi^ &c., 

 germinate readily if sown in frames in the open ground. The 

 seed being very fine, care should be taken not to cover it too 

 deeply, and a fine-rosed water-pot should be used for watering. 

 When large enough, the seedlings should be pricked off into 

 iboxes, &c., and in due time transferred to nursery rows in the 

 outdoor garden. Cuttings of the current season's well-ripened 

 :-shoots emit roots if taken off in August and September, dibbled 

 in light soil, and made quite firm at the base Thev should be 

 placed in a warm, moist, close case and shaded from the sun. 



Layering is an excellent method, but not always convenient. 

 Autumn is the best time for this purpose, and if treated in 



exactly the same 

 way as the Rose, 

 and the soil kept 

 damp, roots will 

 be emitted freely. 



Grafting is the 

 method by which 

 the hybrids are 

 largely increased, 

 and saddle graft- 

 ing is the best 

 although not the 

 easiest system, but 

 whip, or tongue, 

 grafting is prac- 

 tised with much 

 success. This 

 operation is best 

 conducted between autumn and March. The scions should be 

 about the same thickness as the stocks, but never thicker, and 

 when securely tied and a little mastic placed over the tying 

 material, remove to a close case, where a temperature is main- 

 tained of from 6odeg. to yodeg., and shaded from the sun. After 

 a little growth has been made, a chink of air should be admitted, 

 and, later on, the plants hardened off, and a neat stake placed 

 against each one to prevent it from being knocked off. The 

 following season the plants will be fit for planting outside. The 

 stocks most in demand for grafting are R. ponticui7i and 

 R. catawbiense^ but any thoroughly hardy sort answers well. Some 

 operators take the stocks (which should be healthy two-year-old 

 seedlings) out of nursery rows at grafting-time and, after they are 

 worked, lay them in boxes of soil in heat ; but the best results 

 are obtained when they have been previously established in pots. 

 Stocks for autumn working should be potted up in spring. 



Fig. 284. — Rhododendron kewense. 



