1868 , 
RING GRAFTING. 
83 
mould, as well as plenty of sand. I prefer road grit. After potting they 
should be put again into the pit, as the moist heat of a dung bed is just what 
they want at this stage of growth. As soon as they are about 4 inches high 
their tops should be pinched out, to prevent their being drawn, also to cause 
them to throw out laterals previous to their being shifted into their fruiting 
pots (24’s). When they are well established in the small pots I shift them 
into the 24’s, using for this shift a stronger compost made up as follows:— 
Two parts strong yellow loam, two parts rotten dung, and two parts road 
grit (sandy turf, the parings of the roadside) ; these are all well chopped 
up together and mixed with the spade but not sifted. If bottom heat can 
be given after this shift, it will greatly benefit them. 
Should the green fly make its appearance on them they should have a good 
fumigating with tobacco, for unless they are kept quite clear from the green 
fly and red spider, they will not ripen their fruit. The red spider is best kept 
down by frequent syringing in bright sunny weather, once or twice daily. 
When the plants have done flowering and show for plenty of fruit, they 
should be well watered with liquid manure two or three times a-week, and 
the pots put into a house where there is a good heat if it can be obtained; 
if not, the stage of the greenhouse will do almost as well, if they are allowed 
plenty of room for the sun to act fully upon them. I ripened some in the 
latter way last summer, as well as Tomatos, without any fire heat. 
The kind I find the cooks like best, is the small Eed Chilli. They prefer 
this to the larger kinds, or even to the yellow ones, which latter they say 
look more like currie powder when ground into pepper. The Chillis are 
of a very bright red if well ripened, and are one of the greatest luxuries in 
the cooking department of a gentleman’s establishment. 
ELsenham Hall Gardens. William Plester. 
RING GRAFTING. 
1;AST spring I obtained a slight success in some experiments I made 
in grafting rings of bark taken from one sort of tree or shrub, and 
putting them upon another. The object was to cause the sap to 
circulate through a channel different to its own, and thus by induc¬ 
ing a commingling of fluids, to cause it to break out into a fresh 
growth foreign to either. The idea was original; and finding the operation 
as far regards the bark uniting, to be a practical one, I have thought that 
by explaining the process to the readers of The Florist, it may lead others 
to try and find out where a union may be effected, for trees and shrubs 
widely differing in character and species can be made to unite, and possibly 
some good cross or sport may be the result. 
Mr. Scott has recently stated that he saw the Lilac (Syria ga vulgaris) t 
