PROPAGATION. 



232 



PROPS. 



taching tlie shoot from the parent 

 plant ; and the part above the slit 

 should he fixed in the ground as 

 perpendicularly as possible, in order 

 to check the sap, and cause it to ac- 

 cumulate in that part of the layer 

 which is cut, and from which the 

 roots are to proceed. 



The success of budding depends 

 greatly on the state of the stock. If 

 this is growing vigorously, and the 

 bark rises quite freely on the intro- 

 duction of the budding-knife, the 

 budding can hardly fail of success ; 

 but if the young shoots of the stock 

 are nearly ripened to their summits, 

 the bark is likely to adhere to the 

 wood, and the operation of budding to 

 be unsuccessful. Much of the suc- 

 cess both of budding and grafting de- 

 pends on performing the operation as 

 speedily as possible. In grafting, the 

 great art is to keep the newest layers 

 of wood in the inner bark of the stock 

 and the scion closely united, and 

 firmly pressed together; and for this 

 purpose they should both be as near 

 of a size as possible, and the slice cut 

 off from each should be very small, 

 allowing as much of the alburnum as 

 possible to remain on both. The 

 scion should not be put on the stock 

 till the latter has begun to grow ; 

 and for this reason it is always ad- 

 vantageous to cut off the scions from 

 the parent plant a month or more 

 before the grafting season, and to pre- 

 serve them by inserting their ends in 

 the soil in a shady situation. If this 

 is neglected to be done, and the sap 

 is in motion before the scion is cut 

 off, the check which it will receive is 

 such as effectually to prevent it from 

 uniting with the stock, however ex- 

 pertly the operation of grafting may 

 be performed. After all that can be 

 written on grafting, nothing will insure 

 success if the operator has not had 

 some experience ; and therefore in this 

 as in all the operations of gardening 



the amateur will gain more by a few 

 minutes' observation of what takes 

 place in a nursery, or by an expe- 

 rienced gardener, than by reading 

 volumes of well -written treatises ; 

 though the latter are useful in teach- 

 ing principles and calling to mind 

 the modes of practice. — See Seeds, 

 Cuttings, Layers, Graftings, &c. 



Props are artificial supports for 

 plants; and they are of various kinds, 

 according to the nature of the plant 

 that is to be supported. Twining 

 plants are supported by single rods, 

 stakes or poles without branches ; 

 plants which climb by tendrils are 

 supported by branched rods ; and 

 plants which raise themselves by 

 elongation or long slender shoots 

 among other plants are supported 

 artificially by branched rods, or by 

 being tied to simple rods. All these 

 kinds of plants when too tender to 

 be supported in the open garden, are 

 trained to walls, which are the uni- 

 versal supports of plants, whether of 

 the hardy and ligneous kinds, or of 

 such as are slender, somewhat delicate, 

 and either naturally climbing, such as 

 Bignonia capreolata, — or rambling 

 or trailing, such as different kinds of 

 .roses. Ornamental plants grown in 

 pots are sometimes supported by 

 single rods of wood, or of iron or 

 wire, (see Figs. 7 and 8) and some- 

 times by small frames either of wood 

 or iron. These frames may either be 

 flat and of equal breadth from the 

 surface of the pot upwards ; or they 

 may be widest at top,' which suit9 

 most sorts of climbers ; or they may 

 be made in the form of cones, pyra- 

 mids, inverted cones, or balloon-like 

 shapes, at pleasure. (See Fig 22, in 

 p. 178.) A very common form for such 

 plants as Tropceolum pentcsphyl- 

 lum, T. tricolbrum, and T. bra- 

 chyceras, is that of an elongated fan ; 

 and another is that of a shield-like 

 figure with the narrow end at the pot. 



