House and Garden 
A BED OF PEONIES 
for instance, the wista¬ 
ria, clematis, peony, 
hortensia, rhododen¬ 
dron, azalea, fuschia, 
begonia, rose, etc. 
They exert themselves 
to produce as many 
varieties of each as is 
possible, and the 
annual horticultural 
show, held in Paris in 
May of each year, 
aft'ords a magnificent 
display of these and 
many others. The 
peony, for example, by 
reason of its splendid 
coloring and extraor¬ 
dinarily large blossoms 
and its very rustic 
expression has for a 
long time held the 
place of honor in 
French gardens. These 
plants are often a 
metre high, and the 
flowers, sometimes white and pink, sometimes pale 
yellow or, again, rose colored, crimson or purple, 
dispute the palm with the rarest specimens of the 
azalea or rhododendron which all show to the best 
advantage amid wilder surroundings. The illustra¬ 
tion on page 277 shows rhododendrons in full bloom. 
At this stage they are potted with a ball of earth 
and sold. 
Conifers receive equal attention with deciduous 
trees, as their evergreen foliage and their hardiness 
highly recommend them to the amateur gardener. 
One notices especially the pitch pine, the cedar, 
the Scotch fir, and the larch. The juniper, the 
cypress and the yew are also conspicuous in the 
plantations. The view on page 272 shows a group 
of conifers at MM. Croux et fils, but only partially 
succeeds in expressing the exquisite shades and 
sparkling tones and the graceful bearing of the 
many different varieties. 
But let us turn our attention to the most remu¬ 
nerative part of the nurseryman’s craft—the graft¬ 
ing of young fruit trees. There are three methods 
of grafting ordinarily employed in the neighborhood 
of Paris. In the graft en fente Barhemboise, which 
is used from January to March, the branch is cut 
slantwise until the sap begins to flow. The end 
of the stock is then split with a pruning hook and 
the end of the graft is cut to a chisel edge and inserted 
in the split end in such a manner that its bark is 
flush with the bark of the branch of the parent tree. 
1 hey are then bound tightly together with an osier, 
and the whole covered with a plaster to prevent 
water from penetrating to the heart of the wood. 
The composition of this plaster is as follows: 
Shoemaker’s wax, 56 parts. 
Yellow wax, 16 “ 
Tallow, 14 “ 
Sifted ashes, 14 “ 
The second method is known as the graft en 
courofine and is used in mid-April when the flow of 
the sap has reached its maximum. As in the first 
method, the branch is cut slantwise. The bark is 
then cut vertically at the highest point of the beveled 
end and peeled aside. Then after having shaped 
the graft like the mouthpiece of a clarionet a notch 
is formed at an acute angle, the bark is returned 
and laid over that of the graft, and the whole then 
bound and plastered, as before. 
There is also a third method used, known as the 
graft en ecusson. A bud, of the variety which it is 
desired to engraft, is cut at the moment in August 
when the sap has reached its maximum flow. The 
leaves are trimmed off except at the very tip of the 
twig. Then a T shaped incision is made in the 
stock, the bark is raised and the graft inserted and 
bound around with cotton cloth. Eight days later 
the binding is loosened, and a month after entirely 
removed, when the graft has secured a healthy 
growth. In the following year, toward the end of 
winter, the stock is cut off above the graft. 
After making a careful selection of the young 
fruit-bearing trees, the nurserymen give them dif¬ 
ferent forms by means of pruning and training, in 
order to satisfy the varied tastes of their customers. 
276 
