370 



THE FIIACTICAL GARDENER. 



[Mar. 



let them be thinned out as in the former months, and shorten 

 the shoots which are left. 



The ground between the rows of raspberries should now be 

 dug, it will strengthen the shoots, and add a neatness to the 

 place. 



Plantations of raspberries maybe made any time this month: 

 they will take root soon after they are planted, grow freely, 

 and produce fruit the same year : give them some water occa- 

 sionally in dry weather, till they have taken fresh root. 



In planting raspberries, remember it is the young shoots 

 which were produced from the old roots last year, that are the 

 proper plants ; choosing those, the roots of which are well fur- 

 nished with fibres, and one or more buds formed at bottom for 

 new shoots, and rejecting such as have naked, hard, woody 

 roots. Let them be planted as mentioned in the two former 

 months. 



GRAFTING FRUIT-TREES. 



Almost every cultivator of fruits has experienced some dis- 

 appointment in finding, when his trees arrive at a bearing state, 

 that many of them turn out to be very different from what he 

 expected, and this is not often detected, particularly in the 

 case of pears, for many years, nor until the trees have attained 

 a large size. It is a mortifying consideration to have to root 

 them out, and to plant others, by which he is not certain he 

 may not be equally disappointed. The only alternative, in 

 such cases, is to head them down, and to engraft upon their 

 branches or stems, the scions which he may procure of the sorts 

 desired. The operation of grafting may be successfully per- 

 formed upon trees of almost any age or size, although, no 

 doubt, the younger the ti'ee or branches are, that are to be 

 grafted, the greater success will attend the operation. But 

 if properly done, it may be performed on trees of all sizes and 

 ages with tolerable success. There are many modes of gi'aft- 

 ing; the following are in most general use. 



Ri?fg, sJioulder, or croivn grafting, is that in which the 

 gi-afts are set in a circle, or crown, and is chiefly practised 

 on large trees, where either the head or larger branches are 

 cut off horizontally, and two or m.ore shoots or scions put in. 



