34 



THE ART OP 



a week, after which they are removed altogether ; bnt the 

 young plants are kept shaded with canvas or other screens. 

 These are at length removed altogether, before planting the 

 subjects out. The stocks are raised in pots before-hand. 

 They may also be sometimes grafted at the same time that 

 they are potted. Evergreens, also, which can be taken up 

 with the roots in a ball, are often grafted after they are taken 

 up. They are then planted under cloches, in a compost of 

 good soil, and not potted until two months afterwards, when 

 the cloches are dispensed with. Autumn -grafting under the 

 cloche does not succeed so well, and involves a greater 

 amount of care and attention. During winter, the rows of 

 cloches are covered with dead leaves and straw mats ; but it 

 is very rare that severe winters do not leave their marks 

 behind them. The amateur who desires to try grafting under 

 glass, may satisfy himself, at a trifling expense, by operating in 

 spring with the cloche, and in open ground or nearly so. 



Grafting in Frames. 

 The frame consists of a wooden box, set in cement or 

 brickwork about 2 feet high, and sunk in the ground to 

 one-half its depth. If the height of the stocks requires it, 

 the soil should be excavated from the bottom to a suitable 

 depth, leaving the height of the frame over-ground as it was. 

 The frame may be about 4| feet wide, and should be covered 

 with glazed lights. The interstices between the lights and the 

 frame should be stuffed with moss, in order to exclude the 

 air. At the bottom of the frame is placed a layer of sand, 

 tan, cinders, or even of ordinary soil, in which the subjects 

 are plunged as soon as they are grafted. August is the best 

 time for grafting under glass. The stocks should be grafted 

 in the propagating shed at that time, or from the latter 

 part of July to the commencement of September, and placed 



