96 
GRAFTING. 
[chap. iv. 
severe frost* when the former is more tender 
than the latter; as the graft is frequently 
killed without the stock being injured. It is 
also necessary when grafted trees are for any 
reason cut down* to leave a portion above 
the graft for the new shoots to spring from; 
as otherwise the proprietor will find his trees 
changed as if by magic* and instead of choice 
kinds only the common sorts left. A rather 
droll instance of this happened some years 
ago* in the neighbourhood of London; an 
ignorant gardener having a conservatory full 
of very choice Camellias* and wishing to 
reduce the plants to a more compact shape* 
cut them down for that purpose; when in 
due time he found* to his great confusion 
and dismay* that the choice Camellias had 
all vanished* and that he had nothing left 
but a number of plants of the common single 
red on which they had been grafted. 
The proper season for grafting is in spring* 
generally in March and April; in order that 
the union between the scion and the stock 
may be effected when the sap is in full 
vigour. At this season a stock is chosen 
of nearly the same diameter as the scion, 
