168 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
frame in which they have been raised and conveyed in a box 
where it is intended to plant them. They should be pricked 
out in little clumps (about half a dozen together), and about 
an inch from clump to clump, then thoroughly watered, shaded, 
and kept close until they commence growing. When the 
young plants are forming roots freely the frames should be 
ventilated liberally to have the plants as hardy as possible 
before winter. The boxes should remain over them during 
the winter, affording protection by mats or other material if 
the weather proves severe. I have seen the frames entirely 
removed in early spring when required for other purposes ; but 
it is by no means advisable, as late spring frosts often kill 
many of the smallest plants, and the strongest are not always 
the best varieties. When the boxes are removed from one 
portion and kept upon another there is a marked difference in 
the growth of the plants. 
After they have commenced growing freely and the season 
is fairly advanced they should be fully exposed, and will only 
require occasional supplies of water during dry weather. This 
season the plants will make great progress and require no pro¬ 
tection through the winter. In early spring they can be trans¬ 
planted singly in narrow beds of similar soil to that recom¬ 
mended above, or a good quantity of leaf soil as a substitute 
for the peat. The young plants will not all be of equal size, as 
some will make greater progress than others, and should be 
sorted. In planting they should be placed sufficiently far apart 
to grow for two seasons without crowding. This occupies a 
little more ground at first, but labour in transplanting is saved. 
Some of the plants after the two seasons' growth will be suit¬ 
able for lifting to be placed in 5-inch pots for forcing, and 
when in flower they are unsurpassed in beauty for room 
decoration. 
Some little attention is needed after they are transplanted 
singly, as, if they show signs of an upright growth, the leading 
shoot should be removed or shortened back, which insures them 
branching freely. This is not needed after they once com¬ 
mence flowering, for every shoot that terminates with a flower 
bud is sure to produce three or four shoots, which is not always 
the case before they are large enough to flower. If it is desir¬ 
able to keep the plants dwarf instead of allowing them to 
develope naturally, the shoots can be cut back after flowering, 
and strong sturdy growths are produced, and in consequence 
large trusses of flower. 
Grafting is a quicker method of producing flowering plants, 
but as a rule it is only practised for increasing the stock of 
named varieties or any good seedlings. Grafting these plants 
is a simple operation, and anyone forcing a few plants into 
flower in spring and having a few stocks may readily achieve 
success. The stocks employed are seedlings of the common 
A. pontica, and those anxious to increase their mollis and 
Ghent varieties would find it cheaper to purchase a few stocks 
in preference to raising them from seed. The stocks are best 
placed in early autumn in 3-inch pots and plunged outside 
until wanted ; but good results may be obtained by potting 
now. The plants selected for stocks should have single stems, 
and be as dwarf as possible. These and the plants from which 
the scions are to be taken should be placed in moderate heat, 
such as recommended for the Conifer house, but they must not 
be drawn up weakly without air. When about or 3 inches 
cf young growth has been made on the stocks, and about the 
same length on the plants from which the scions are to be ob¬ 
tained, grafting may be commenced. A few of the lower 
leaves on the stock should be removed and the point of the 
shoots cut off, then a thin slice of the young wood should be 
taken off with a very sharp knife, so that the base of the scion 
will rest just at the junction of the young and old wood. The 
scion should also be young wood, and cut exactly to fit the 
slanting cut on the stock, being made secure by means of 
worsted. Care must be taken in securing the two that neither 
are injured, which is sure to be the case if done roughly. The 
best way to carry out the operation is to lay the pot on its side 
and take the stock and scion between the thumb and finger of 
Jhe left hand ; at the same time one end of the worsted should 
be held between the finger and back of the stock, and then the 
two should be bound together with the right hand and finished 
at the base of the scion. When grafted they must be placed 
for a time in a moderately close frame and frequently dewed 
with the syringe. The young wood quickly becomes united to 
the old, and if the operation w r as carefully done it is seldom 
any losses occur. When thoroughly united the uppermost por¬ 
tion of the stock can be removed and the plants gradually hard¬ 
ened and grown under more favourable conditions. If kept 
in a confined atmosphere too long they generally grow weakly. 
To save time the plants should be grown through the summer 
in frames, closing them earl}’ in the afternoon to preserve sun 
heat. The points of the young plants can be removed, which 
will cause them to branch, but they need not be stopped more 
than once after grafting. 
If a cold frame can be spared plant them out in it early the 
following spring ; they will make great progress, and when 
well established the lights should be removed. In this position 
they may remain one or two seasons, according to circum¬ 
stances, when those well budded can be lifted for forcing and 
the others planted outside. 
I once had charge of a long pit of young grafted plants 
treated as described, and in two seasons from grafting they 
became beautiful bushy plants with five or six shoots each, and 
the majority of them well set with buds. They were equal to 
any small imported plants I have seen.—W. Bardney. 
VINES AT LONGLEAT. 
(Continued frem page 150.') 
THE SECOND YEAR’S TRAINING AND PRUNING. 
Although there was a bunch of fruit left on each of 
the young Vines, bringing that bunch to perfection was 
quite a secondary object, our attention being mainly 
directed to the building-up of a good main stem, and 
with this object in view there was no disbudding except 
where more than one shoot started from the same 
joint. Some of the growths being much lower down 
than where the trellis commences, they were, where 
necessary, supported with temporary stakes till they 
became somewhat tough and could bear their own 
weight. They were all stopped at four or five leaves, 
and, as they started again several times, such as had 
the trellis to support them were allowed to make a leaf 
or two each time. There was not much room for the 
main stem to extend in length, not more than from 
5 to 6 feet at the most, owing to the temporary Vines 
covering the trellis in the centre of the house ; and I 
may say that I began to wish someone else had the 
temporary Vines, for it was difficult to restrain the 
growth of the permanent ones. With the exception 
of the compartment where the Muscats were planted 
and where they had a space of several feet from plant 
to plant, the roof was sufficiently covered long before 
autumn, and the growths were then all kept pinched 
back as in the previous year, the Muscats, though the 
plants did not touch each other, being treated in the 
same way. 
It is necessary here, perhaps, to remind amateurs that 
this encouraging the side shoots down to the ground is 
not the plan Avliich is generally followed, but it has the 
effect of causing the main stem to thicken much faster 
and thus makes it better able in after life to supply the 
numerous branches and leaves with such good things 
as they require to have brought up from the soil. If 
you want the stem of any plant to thicken, even though 
it is ultimately to be a standard with a bare stem, you 
must encourage all the growths there are room for 
from the ground upwards ; then you will have the size 
diminish with the height instead of being, as so many 
Vines are, with their greatest circumference some yards 
from the root. 
The terminal growth as soon as it had filled the 
