night, and in ten days I could see the peas 
coining through the ground. Just as I was 
thinking of sending over for the Squire to 
come and see my gardeu, however, it turned 
cold and the ground froze and four inches of 
snow fell, and when it cleared up after the 
storm the mercury went down nearly to zero, 
I met the Squire out in his sleigh and he looked 
at me with a superior smile, as he inquired 
after my garden. I was quite sure that it 
was not injured, but did not think it best to 
tell him so. Well, the snow melted, and 
about tue twentieth of the month, we had 
some beautiful weather so that the farmers 
begau to sow oats on their driest lands. It 
was surprising how my garden grew. In a 
week the peas, lettuce and ouious were up so 
that they could be seen in the rows from the 
road as one went by the house. One morning 
I saw the Squire coming along the road, and 
1 went out to the gate aud spoke to him. 
“Have you plowed your garden yet? I 
asked. 
“ Y es, we plowed it yesterday” he answer¬ 
ed, and added; “ have you planted yours over 
again ?” 
“Notyet,” said I. 
“ Then I shall not be so much behind you at 
last,” said he. 
“ Don’t be too sure of that till you see mine,” 
I answered. 
“ You don’t mean to say that anything gre v 
after that wintry spell of weather, do you ?’> 
“ Get out of your buggy aud we will take a 
look,” I answered. 
We went round the house aud when we 
came in 6ight of the garden the Squire stopped. 
“ I vum” said he, “I wouldn’t have believed 
open, is withdrawn, and the stock closes upon 
the cion and should hold it fast. The graft is 
then tied with bast, yarn or something of the 
kind, and the whole is covered with grafting 
wax, clay or other preparation. A form of 
advantages of both cleft and splice-grafting. 
It gives the cion a firm hold and at the same 
time secures the contact of a good deal of sur¬ 
face. The letter A is the cion; B the stock, aud 
C sho ws the j unction. Let some of ou r readers 
try this method in grafting the lilac on the 
privet, different kinds of Japan Quince on one 
stock, so as to give white, orange, chocolate 
and red flowers on the same plant; the Com¬ 
mon Lilac upon the Persian Lilac; pears upon 
the quince—either the ornamental Japan 
Quince or the quince we cultivate for its fruit, 
or any of the fruit trees that are small and 
young. 
Grafting Grape-Vines. 
We have had a great number of inquiries 
on this subject, which we have answered in 
our Querist Department. Our illustrations 
may s rve to render what has been said more 
easily understood. The neck of the root is 
laid bare and cut off just beneath or even just 
above the surface of the soil, as oue prefers. 
The cion, Fig, 73, is cut obliquely and in¬ 
serted in a cleft in the stock, which should 
be firmly bound, though grafting wax is not 
needed and, indeed, is thought by some to be 
harmful. Then the soil is heaped up as shown 
in Fig. 74. Mr. Ricketts insists that the graft 
and stock should not only be firmly but tight- 
while upon Concord or other rank-growing 
kinds their growth is very satisfactory. Prof, 
Husmann, in his American Grape-Growing, 
says that the best success is generally at¬ 
tained when we graft in March, and that it 
may be delayed as late as in May. 
,4 Grafting the grape is now- 
^ a-days of far more importance 
is., than in days long ago when the 
phylloxera was little feared, or 
i still longer ago when it was un- 
'ijii known. We may now, and must 
if we would cultivate some of 
| our finest kinds, use stocks whose 
I roots are 
more or less proof 
f against the phylloxera’s ravages. 
In the mountains of North 
Carolina wo have seen successful 
grafting performed on stems two 
feet above the ground in March 
by the methods illustrated in 
Figs. 73, 75. Root cuttings were 
also successfully grafted and 
placed in boxes in February, or 
earlier, to be set out in May. 
In reply to our question, Mr. 
D. S. Marvin gives his method 
as follows; “Save two-bud 
cious in a cold place until the 
Fig 73. . . . , 
young cauesare six inches long. 
If the stump is knotty, split it with a fine 
saw, pare the cion so that the lower bud 
fits into the cleft; tie It in place; use no wax; 
graft below ground; pack the dirt very firmly 
and mulch.” 
When to Graft.—T he cherry and plum 
are best grafted 
very early, before 
the buds have be- 1 
gun to swell or 
while yet there is 1 
frost in the ground. 
As to the apple and /7-w 
pear, they may be i.- rW 
grafted even after td/iS 
the buds have bro- JjgjjS 
ken. But success in 
all cases depends in 
a great measure up- 
on the condition of ^ \ 'N 
the cion. This ' y ■ » 
should be kept in a _ 
dormant state if cut 
previously, and if cut at the time of grafting, 
before the buds have swollen. As any devel¬ 
opment of the cion must be at the expense of 
the cion itself, it is plain that it should be 
kept in a dormaut state until it is united to 
the stock from which it is to receive its nour¬ 
ishment. As a general rule, graft all kinds of 
hardy trees or shrubs in the Spring just be¬ 
fore or as the buds are swelling. 
cleft-grafting where but one cion is used is 
shown at Fig. 07. This ou some accounts is 
better than to split the stock entirely across. 
But it is a rather more difficult method for the 
beginner, to whom alone this article is dedi¬ 
cated Another form of single-cleft gracing 
is shown at Fig. 68. Here we have a stock, 
A, of two inches or more. It is cut obliquely 
gu at B, the topi, c, of the 
^ | cut being smoothed 
| 1 I horizontally. Then, 
! I inserting the point of 
yr J T, tes the pruning knife or 
vjj It !|eT|jifc s '® the blade of the graft¬ 
al fg ^ ing-knife, it is moved 
Mi l * ijl gently backwards and 
ijilfli m , /li'i'§59 forwards, pressing on 
M|l|| i it moderately until a 
Ill'Wli vertical cleft, D, is 
p« I6 ( jg made about the depth 
of the slanting cut of 
the cion. The skill of the operator is shovin 
by not splitting the stock entirely' across. 
\\ hen the cleft is about two-thirds com¬ 
pleted, we take the cion, E, in the other hand, 
and insert it in the upper part, pushing it down 
as the incision opens. The knife is withdrawn 
when the incision has proceeded so far that the 
cion can be final lylodged in its position by a firm 
push of the hand. The sloping cut. F, of the cion 
The peas, onions, lettuce, spinach and radi¬ 
shes could be seen in the rows clear across 
the garden, and the two first named could 
be seen if we had been 20 rods away. The 
beets were up uicely, too; but having dark 
leaves did not show till we came near 
them. Not to make my story too long, 1 had 
the satisfaction of sending the Squire a mess of 
peas when his were in blossom, aud I was from 
two to thi'ee weeks ahead of him in every 
thing 1 had put in at the first planting. 
Summit Co., Ohio. 
Fxg. 70. 
ly bound together. But this is not necessary. 
Mr. Fuller prefers Fall to Spring for grafting 
the grape-vine.* 
After the leaves have fallen and before the 
ground is frozen, the soil is dug away, as be¬ 
fore stated, from around the stock to the depth 
of four to six inches; then the stock is cut off and 
split as in ordinary cleft-grafting. The cion has 
oue eye with about four inches of wood, and it 
is inserted in the stock, care being taken to 
have the inner bark of each meet or corres¬ 
pond as nearly as possible. Then the cion Is 
tied iu by winding with bass-bark or strong 
twine to hold it firmly. Fig. 73, which we 
have redrawn from Mr. Fuller’s Grape Book, 
shows the graft inserted and ready for tying, 
which is essentially the same as Fig. 75, ex¬ 
cept iu the latter case the stock is larger and 
might better perhaps have two cious inserted, 
one on each side. 
Next soil enough is thrown in to fill up 
around the graft, leaving the bud just above 
the surface. Then he recommends putting a 
flower pot or box over the graft, as shown in 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
readers remember this—it is au important 
point If we would have the cion unite thor¬ 
oughly with the stock, it is plain that the 
pares should bo as little lacerated us possible. 
Again, see that the lino which separates the 
inner bark irom the wood be placed as nearly 
as possible upon the corresponding line in the 
stock. These remarks will be at once under¬ 
stood by oxumiuing the cut of cleft-grafting, 
though the same principle holds good in all 
grafting, no matter what the methods. All 
methods, indeed, are but modifications of I he 
one principle* which are varied tosuit different 
species, temperatures, climates, sizos or condi¬ 
tions. 
Methods. 
Where stocks are much larger than the cions 
whip-grafting is often resorted to. Let us sup¬ 
pose the stock to be two inch¬ 
es in diameter. Cut it off 
horizontally with a fine saw, jlf l 
and smooth the edges with a 1 I 
knife. A stout knife is now 
needed to make the cleft, 
Fig. 09. 
each other. A peculiar method of cleft¬ 
grafting is shown in Fig. 69. The cion, A, 
has a single bud, a, which is to be inserted in 
the cleft of the stock. At b we have a section 
of the cut part of the cion; at B the cleft cut 
iu the stock, aud ut C the work completed ex¬ 
cept that the wax is to be applied. 
Splice Grafting. 
In this method the stock and cion are usual¬ 
ly of the same diameter. Each is cut wi u h a 
slant, as shown in Fig. 70, though in opposite 
directions, care being taken to cut as nearly 
as possible at the same angle, so that when 
brought together they will make a close fit. 
The extent of surface brought in contact may 
be increased by one or more notches cut to fit 
into each other. In the world renowned es¬ 
tablishment of M. Andre Leroy (Augers, 
France)*, hardly any other system is em¬ 
ployed, bnt others use this method only with 
stocks of small diameter. The cious having 
been smoothly cut as above, the two parts are 
fitted together us closely as may be and then 
bound with yarn or bast. • 
A favorite form of grafting with us is 
shown in Fig. 71, which unites, to a degree, the 
3Lrlionadtural 
DR. JOHN A. WARDER. 
Locusts for Timber: Planting In Ontario, 
The common Black-Locust, (Robinia pseu¬ 
do-acacia) is a most valuable tree, and has the 
great merit of a short rotat ion, being of a suf¬ 
ficient size to cut for posts at from 20 to 30 
years. Indeed, it seems to be most valuable 
for all uses when not more than 30 years old. 
I am uow cutting trees that have grown in 34 
years in clumps on rather thin soils of old 
fields; they average 13 inches in diameter and 
60 feet in hight. They make eight ami ten 
good fence posts seven feet in length, with six 
to eight-inch faces at the top end, and stand 
400 to the acre, or at the rate of 4,500 posts on 
that area, say 4,000. 
The lands best adapted to this tree need not 
be of very rich soil nor should they be low bot- 
would have done; hut we have in a number of 
instances known the growth to be far greater. 
In fact, some of Ricketts’s hybrids make with 
us but a sickly growth on their own roots, 
•Fuller’* Grape Culturlst. p. 68. 
•See Baltet’s Art of Grafting, p. 110. 
