264 
Garden Work 
be avoided. It is largely practised in spring both for 
indoor and outdoor plants. The length of the scion 
should be about 6 in. The growth of the shoots for 
fruit-tree grafting may be retarded by cutting them off 
and heeling them into moist sand or soil in a cool place. 
As has already been noticed, a great deal depends on 
the quickness with which the operation is done, the 
exact fitting of essential parts of the stock and scion, 
and the cut being made with a clean and very sharp 
knife. The latter will prevent the cells of the stock or 
scion being bruised, and thus retarding the healing pro- 
cess. Double grafting is sometimes practised. When 
it is found necessary to have good strong roots for certain 
soils, such as the seedling Pear, it is sometimes found 
that some of the more delicate -growing varieties do not 
succeed well when grafted directly on to the strong-grow- 
ing seedling plants. Then the Quince may be grafted on 
the seedling Pear, after which the finer-growing varieties 
of Pears may be grafted on to the Quince with success. 
LAYERING 
This is another popular method of propagating some 
plants, such as Carnations, &c. In Carnations this con- 
sists in first of all scraping away the soil to a depth of 
G to 2 in. round the plants, then filling up the gap made 
with sandy soil, afterwards selecting the shoots to be 
layered. The leaves should be taken off, with the excep- 
tion of a few at the apex. Then, with a sharp, clean 
knife, make a cut halfway into the shoot, and right up 
through the centre of the shoot, through at least one 
