Chap. 24.] 
TAEIOUS KINDS OE GRAFTINa. 
481 
that are grafted in tlie seed-plot and then transplanted the 
very same day. If the stock used for grafting is of very con- 
siderable thickness, it is the best plan to insert the graft be- 
tween the bark and the wood ; for which purpose a wedge 
made of bone is best, for fear lest when the bark is loosened 
the wood should be bruised. In the cherry, the bark is removed 
before the incision in the stock is made ; this, too, is the only 
tree that is grafted after the winter solstice. When the bark 
is removed, this tree presents a sort of downy substance, which, 
if it happens to adhere to the graft, will very speedily destroy 
it. When once the graft is safely lodged by the aid of the 
wedge, it is of advantage to drive it home. It is an excellent 
plan, too, to graft as near the ground as possible, if the con- 
formation of the trunk and knots will admit of it. The graft 
should not project from the stock more than six fingers in 
length. 
Cato^^ recommends a mixture of argiP^ or powdered chalk, 
and cow-dung, to be stirred together till it is of a viscous consis- 
tency, and then inserted in the fissure and rubbed all round 
it. Prom his writings on the subject it is very evident that 
at that period it was the practice to engraft only between the 
wood and the bark, and in no other way; and that the graft 
was never inserted beyond a couple of fingers in depth. ~^ He 
recommends, too, that the pear and the apple should be grafted 
in spring, as also during fifty days at the time of the summer 
solstice, and during the time of vintage ; but that the olive 
and the fig should be grafted in spring only, in a thirsting, or 
in other words, a dry moon : he says also, that it should be 
done in the afternoon, and not while a south wind is blowing. 
It is a singular thing, that, not content with protecting the 
graft in the manner already mentioned, and with sheltering 
it from showers and frosts by means of turfs and supple bands 
of split osiers, he recommends that it should be covered with 
bugloss^^ as well — a kind of herb so called — w^hich is to be 
tied over it and then covered up with straw. At the present 
day, however, it is thought sufficient to cover the bark with a 
20 De Re Rust. 40. 
2^ This is the onguent Saint-Fiacre of the French, and is still used to 
protect the graft from all contact with the exterior air. 
'^'^ "Altitudinem," as Dalecharaps suggests, would appear to be a better 
reading than '^atitudinem." 23 geeB. xxv. c. 40. 
VOL. III. I I 
