1018 



THE niACTICAL GARDENER. 



wood ; the graft is prepared in like manner, by merely taking 

 oft' a thin slice of it ; they are fitted together in the usual man- 

 ner, and fastened >vith fresh matting, which is wound round the 

 stock, from about an inch below the union, and carried up about 

 an inch above it. No clay, but only a httle fine moss, is used 

 to enveIoi>e the part operated on, and kept constantly moist. 

 The head or leading shoot of the stock is not now shortened, 

 but left growing until some weeks after the union is ascer- 

 tained to be complete ; it is then Headed down, as close to the 

 part of union as convenient, but not too close, for fear of dis- 

 placing the graft. The remaining piece of the stock is removed 

 some months after the graft is established, and, if carefully done, 

 the part of union will, in a few months longer, scarcely be 

 visible. When the operation of grafting is just completed, the 

 plants are placed under close hand-glasses, within a hot-bed 

 frame with a good heat, and seldom removed until the union be 

 complete, and that only to give a little water. By this process 

 we have had many fine orange plants from two to three feet 

 high, and often covered with bloom within two years, from the 

 day of sowing the seed. 



The late Gushing describes a somewhat similar method of 

 grafting, in his Exotic Gardener, Form the scion as for the 

 common whip-graft, and then, without taking off the head of 

 the stock, cut from the clearest part of its stem an equal splice 

 as smoothly as possible ; do not tongue the scion, but tie it on 

 neatly and firmly with matting and clay, in the manner of a 

 graft; plunge them in a hot-bed, and cover with a cap-glass till 

 the scion begins to grow, and then cut away the top of the 

 stock, and remove the matting by degrees." Nairn, in a com- 

 munication to the Horticultural Society, details the following as 

 his practice : — " Let the operator select as many orange or 

 lemon stocks as he wishes to work, and place them on a mo- 

 derate hot-bed for a fortnight, by which time the sap will have 

 risen sufficiently to move the bark ; the stocks must then be cut 

 off, about two inches above the surface of the pot ; and an in-- 

 cision made with a sharp knife, similar to what is done for bud- 

 ding, separating the bark from the wood on each side. Let the 

 scion be cut thin, in a sloping direction, and thrust between the 

 bark and wood, and then bound tight with woollen yarn ; but 



