1044 



niE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



[Ma7\ 



it may be noticed as practised by that intelligent and inde- 

 fatigable botanist, Mr. Murray of Glasgow, who substitutes 

 for the water a potato or turnip, into which he inserts the 

 bottom end of the scion. Some propagators have recom- 

 mended inserting the lower end of the scion into the mould 

 of a pot, kept at a proper degree of heat and moisture ; and 

 in some cases where this has been practised, the scion has 

 rooted into the mould, and where such has occurred, the 

 part below the union of the graft has been cut off, and has 

 consequently produced a perfect plant, giving thus two plants 

 instead of one. Instances have also occurred of the scion 

 rooting into the water, and in like manner producing a plant. 

 It may be mentioned, as a necessary precaution in the above 

 method of grafting, that to prevent too rapid evaporation, 

 produced either by the sun or winds, a cap of stout paper or 

 parchment has been recommended, which may be fixed a 

 little below the part operated on, and so contrived as to en- 

 close the whole of the upper part of the stock. This pre- 

 caution becomes particularly necessary when the operation is 

 performed in the open air, and particularly in the case of 

 resinous or gummy trees. 



Of the plants which belong to those departments, which are 

 propagated by these methods, may be enumerated the families 

 of Camellia and Citrus^ the varieties of which are for the 

 most part propagated by the two latter methods, as are some 

 species of Daphne, Berheris fasicularis, and various others. 

 Sometimes grafting is performed on the roots of some rare 

 plants, as in the case of Pa^onia papaverac'iay which is often 

 grafted on pieces of the roots of Poeonia moutan. 



Experienced operators propagate plants by these means 

 with much success, and indeed the idea of increasing the 

 size of a Camellia, for example, to an almost unlimited ex- 

 tent, by inarching very large branches, or, in some cases, 

 entire plants upon others of greater size, appears to us to be 

 perfectly practicable. As the size of these plants adds to their 

 value, and as they are several years before they acquire a 

 large size, however well they may be cultivated, this mode 

 of increasing them certainly deserves to be more generally 

 adopted. No plant, that at present adorns our conservatories, 



