35 



THE ART OP 



one of the beds there might be a shelf, which could be used 

 for holding the potted stocks which are ready for grafting. 

 When the beds are used for raising cuttings, or receiving 

 plants that have been bud-grafted, or for some winter opera- 

 tions, a layer of dung-heap manure mixed with dead leaves 

 should be applied. The leaves serve to maintain the heat in 

 the manure, an object which also may be effected by a mixture 

 of fragments of cotton-waste. Artificial heat is not required 

 in grafting under glass. When the stocks are grafted, which 

 may be done either inside or outside of the house, they 

 should be arranged on the bed or shelf in groups, keeping 

 similar kinds as much together as possible. They are then 

 covered with cloches, which exclude the air, and under which 

 they are kept for six or eight weeks. Every five or six days 

 the condensed vapour on the inside of the cloche should be 

 wiped off, and the cloche carefully replaced over the plants, 

 so that the air may not enter. The omission of this precaution 

 would be more dangerous than neglecting to wipe the con- 

 densed vapours from the interior of the cloche. During 

 periods of great heat, the cloches should be covered with 

 sheets of grey paper, and the glass of the house whitewashed. 

 Conifers are more hardy than evergreens, and for them this 

 will be superfluous. As soon as the union of the graft is 

 complete, which will be in the space of six or eight weeks, the 

 cloche is removed and the plant left without it for three or 

 four weeks, but still under the shelter of the house; or, 

 should the house be required for any other purpose, the 

 plants may be removed at once to a frame and covered with 

 the lights. 



9 



Treatment after Grafting under Glass. 

 After grafting, the subjects are left for six or eight weeks ' 

 cut off from the external air. As soon as the union of the I 



