By Joseph Sabine, Esq. 



189 



propagation have been tried with them, viz. by seeds, suckers, 

 grafts, cuttings and layers. They rarely produce perfect 

 seeds, bu t would probably do so more frequently, if the 

 impregnation of the stigmas was properly attended to. The 

 seedlings which have hitherto been obtained, as may be 

 observed from the accounts of such in the former part of this 

 paper, are but few. Suckers, or rather root-shoots, may some- 

 times be severed successfully from large old plants, and 

 such soon become strong enough to flower. If the work is 

 carefully executed, grafts of the rarer sorts may be fixed on 

 pieces of the roots of the more common. These pieces of 

 root must be established in pots, and in the spring a bud, 

 with a little wood attached to it, may be joined to the root in 

 the manner of a graft, a slice of the root being taken off to 

 receive the piece intended to be united to it. When the 

 fitting is completed it is to be covered with clay, taking 

 care to leave the eye exposed ; the pot must be kept 

 covered with a hand-glass. Trials have been made of a plan 

 of grafting the Moutan on roots of Herbaceous Paeonies, as 

 suggested by Mr. Knight, the President, in the first volume 

 of these Transactions,* and I have heard that it has some- 

 times succeeded, but not sufficiently to encourage the prac- 

 tice generally. I have not witnessed the operation, but have 

 been informed that it is performed by attaching a short slip 

 of a branch of a Moutan, on which there is a bud, to the 

 succulent tuber of an Herbaceous Paeony, binding them tightly 

 together, sinking them below the surface of the earth, and 

 covering them with a glass ; the tuber supports the graft until 

 it emits roots sufficient to maintain itself independently. 

 * See Horticultural Society's Transactions, Vol. i. page 240. 



