V..] 



PROPAGATION. 



151 



with your fingers. Ko iostrilhieiit does it so well ; and kill all 

 vermin in the same way; and it is not amiss to finish this 

 work by washing the joined parts with a little soap and water, 

 using a small paiiiting-brush for the operation. All these things 

 done, you have now only to guard against high winds, for, if the 

 plants be not staked as is above described, they will very likely be 

 broken off by them, and, in this work of destruction, you will 

 have the mortification to see the finest of your plants go first. 



211. Cleft grafting. —This, as I said above, is a species of 

 grafting adopted in cases where the stock is large, or where it con- 

 sists of a branch or branches of a tree headed down. In either of 

 these cases, saw off horizontally the part you wish to graft, and 

 smooth the wound over with a carpenter's plane, or a sharp long- 

 bladed knife (plate 4,^^. 1). ^ 



PLATE 4. 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 



Prepare your scion in this manner : at about an inch and a half 

 from the bottom, cut it in the form of the blade of a razor, that is, 

 make it sharp on one side and let it be blunt at the back, where you 

 will also take care to leave the bark whole (plate 4>,fig. 2, a). 

 Having thus prepared the scion, make a split (plate 4^, fig- 1, «) in 

 the crown of the saw-cut, downvt'ards, for about two inches, taking 

 care that the two sides of this split be perfectly even. Hold it 

 then open by means of a chisel or a wedge (or, when the stock is 

 but a small one, your knife), and insert the scion, the sharp edge 

 going inwards, and the bark-side, or razor-back, remaining out- 

 ward, so that, on taking out the wedge or chisel, the cleft closes firmly 

 upon the scion (plate 4^, fig- 3), the two edges of bark formed by 

 the cleft squeezing exactly upon the two edges of bark formed by 

 the blunt razor-back. To make the two barks meet precisely is, 

 the reader will see, the only nicety in his operation ; bat this iy 



