70 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
exercise more care in the selection of stocks for Rhodo- 
dendrons. It is radically wrong to graft a tender species 
on a hardy one, and to reverse them is equally bad. 
Attention should always be given to this question of 
equality in hardiness, and also with respect to stature and 
habit. 
The three modes of grafting preferred for Rhododen- 
drons are those of the wedge, the saddle, and the side. 
In wedge and saddle, the top of the stock is cut off and a 
slit is made in which the scion, which is cut in the shape 
of a wedge, is inserted ; or the stock is cut to a wedge 
point and the scion is split and fixed on, like a saddle. 
For side grafting the top is left on the stock, a slice is 
cut out of the side a few inches below, and the scion is 
cut so as to fit in this incision, the graft then being bound 
on with strong grafting cotton, a covering of clay or wax 
being pressed tightly over it. 
The grafted plants are then placed in a frame, where 
they are kept moist and in a temperature of about 55° until 
a union has been effected. The top of the stock which has 
been side-grafted is removed as soon as the scion starts into 
growth. Either of these three methods will answer for any 
of the strong-growing sorts. A heated frame is not neces- 
sary for hardy sorts. The practice to-day is exactly the 
same as it was forty years ago, when John Standish, one of 
the greatest of English Rhododendron breeders and growers, 
described his method as follows 
We begin to graft in January, February, and March, and 
for a cold frame the operation may even be extended into 
April, but in that case the grafts should have been taken off 
by the end of February, and stuck in under a handlight, 
behind a north wall, or in some other shady place. Those 
