is peculiar: they rise from one main stem. Each branch extends to the length of about ten feet, and the three are furnished altogether, with thirty-two perpendicular bearing shoots.

678. Propagation by Inarching and Grafting.-The season for grafting in the open air, is about the middle of March. As, however, it is an acknowledged fact that vine-grafts do not take so freely as those of most other fruit-trees, the most certain mode of proceeding is to graft by approach—that is, by inarching. Either the stock or the scion must, in this case, be growing in a pot, and for the former, strong plants that have been potted two years-or rather, that have been raised in pots—are to be preferred, because they will be more perfectly rooted.

679. The operation of inarching may be performed in the usual manner with the dry wood, but it rarely succeeds with the vine. The method of inarching with green wood rarely fails: it is one of the most certain and gratifying operations of the nursery. By it any of the vines may be changed, for it appears to correct defective stocks, transferring such as cannot produce good fruit into efficient supporters of perfectly prolific varieties. In some places the Frontignacs constantly fail as primary plants, but when inarched, they bring their scions to the highest condition of fertility; and in other genera, analogy appears to bear out the fact. In April, May, or June, any strong young shoot produced from, or near the lower part of a stem, the wood of which, though quite green, has acquired some firmness and elasticity, is fitted to receive a scion of another vine, whether growing in the border or in a pot. An incision is to be cut so deep in the stock, and another in the scion, as to admit of the best adjustment of the wounded bark and alburnum, on both sides if possible. The green wood of the scion may be rather more tender than that of the stock; but it should be firm enough to bear the ligature. Let an inch and a-half, or two inches, be taken off from each; then fit the abraded surfaces, and tie them closely with a soft, strong shred of moistened bassmatting: cover the parts with moss, and confine it over the ligature. In six weeks the junction will generally be secured. In the mean time, the lead of the stock must be stopped, and not suffered to outrun the scion. In 1837, I inarched a Frankendale slender scion upon a secondary, low shoot of a Hamburgh: a Hamburgh and several Frankendales upon green shoots advancing from the lowest portion of the stem of a white Frontignac, all within two or three feet of the border. I obtained above twenty feet of strong bearing wood from the two Hamburgh inarches: one shoot of equal length from a Frankendale, and others of less extent. All the scions of the Frankendale were very slender, being the products of weak,

potted plants. When the junction is assured, cut back the stock to the scion; stop the latter to one or two eyes to force it to produce a strong shoot; but do not separate the scion from its parent till the wood ripens. Inarching is required:

"First, when a wall, or vinery, is planted with inferior kinds of vines, the usual method of stubbing them up and supplying their places with better sorts, is attended with much expense and loss of time; as several years must elapse before the wall can be completely furnished with new vines; but, by grafting, the nature of the vines may be changed without expense, or loss of time; for I constantly have good grapes from the same year's graft; and in a hot-house, the grafts, if permitted, will frequently shoot thirty or forty feet the first

summer.

"Secondly, in small vineries, or vine-frames, where it would be inconvenient to have a considerable variety of sorts from roots, they may be procured by grafting different kinds upon one and the same plant. A Syrian vine now (1759) growing in the hot-house at Welbeck, produces sixteen different sorts of grapes." The most important advantage Speechley considers to be, "the improving the various kinds of grapes, and particularly the small kinds, which generally make weak wood. By grafting the weak and delicate growing vines, as the blue Frontignac, upon robust and vigorous stocks, as the Syrian, it will produce well-sized handsome bunches, almost as large as those of the Hamburgh. The Syrian vine raised from seed, is greatly preferable to all others for stocks. If the seed degenerate to a kind of wildness, so much the greater will be the vigour of the plants, and the higher the flavour of the sorts grafted on them."-(SPEECHLEY'S Treatise.)

• The subject will be continued in the third section of the ensuing month.

PART II.

OPERATIONS IN THE FRUIT DEPARTMENT

680. Plant fruit-trees of every kind, but choose dry weather. Mulch newly-planted trees, with long litter, tan, or cow-dung. Gather late pears or apples; and store them up in dry fruitrooms, from which actual frost can be excluded.

Prune vines: other fruit-trees may also be thinned out and trained; but avoid shortening the branches till February or March.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Plant tulips, hyacinths, jonquils, crocuses, and other bulbs; and attend to the directions given last month, in order to complete what may then have been omitted.

THE NATURALISTS' CALENDAR.

NOVEMBER.

FoGs, and a damp state of the atmosphere, are peculiarly prevalent this month; storms of wind and rain likewise, frequently occur; but still, there are intervals of fine and cheerful weather. Hoar frosts, it has been remarked, afford at this season of the year a criterion whereby to judge of the character of the ensuing winter; for, if after a frosty night, the wind veer to the south-west, and bring rain in a few hours, and this occur three or four times successively, or at short intervals, the succeeding winter will in general be mild and rainy. The average height of the barometer is about 29 inches 74 cts.

Ditto

thermometer, 431 degrees.

In the first week,-In late seasons, stares or starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), congregate; late house martins (Hirundo urbica), disappear.

Second week,-Redwing thrush (Turdus iliacus), comes; golden plover (Charadrius pluvialis), appears.

Third week,-The snipe (Scolopax gallinago), appears; snails (Helix), and slugs (Limax), bury themselves.

Fourth week,-Greenfinches (Fringilla chloris), flock; fieldfares (Turdus pilaris), arrive.

DECEMBER.

SECTION I.

SCIENCE OF GARDENING.

SCIENTIFIC OPERATIONS OF GARDENING.

PART I.

OPERATIONS OF GRAFTING AND BUDDING.

681. By grafting, or, as it was formerly written, graffing, is to be understood that operation by which a young twig, generally of the last year's growth, or a bud (sometimes called a shield) of one tree, is inserted into some part of another tree, in order to bring about a union of the two for a specific object.

The operation of grafting includes a variety of processes, the principle of which is one and the same in all.

682. Origin of Grafting-and of the term.-The practice of grafting is one of great antiquity; and its origin may, in all probability, be traced to a natural process which is of no unfrequent occurrence. It has been observed that when two branches of a tree lie in close contact with, or overlap one another, a wound, or an abrasion of the two surfaces is produced, and the returning juices of the tree exuding from the ruptured vessels of the bark, produce granulations, by which a perfect incorporation of substance is effected, and the two branches become united into one. I have now before me an example of such a natural graft in an espalier apple-tree; two of the lower branches of which have united together, forming a double arch, the lower one inverted, leaving a small, but nearly circular hole between them.

Referring to the authority of Dr. Johnson for the derivation of the term graft, we find

"To graft, to graff, verb active (greffer, French),-to insert a

cynon or branch of one tree into the stock of another.”—(Quarto Dictionary, 1786.)

Here, then, there appears to be some difficulty; for where are we to look for the origin of the word cynon? Will it be found in the word cuneus, a wedge-from Kwvos, a cone, or pointed peg? If so, it may be fair to conclude that the original method of grafting might resemble that, which we term terebration (from terebro, to pierce or bore), or peg-grafting, thus described in the Encyclopædia of Gardening. It is an old method, in which the stock being cut off horizontally, a hole was bored in the centre of it; and the scion being selected to fit the stock within an inch and a-half of its lower end, a circular incision was made, and the part between that and the end reduced, so as to fit the hole in the stock. The peg filling the hole was supposed to secure the graft from the effect of winds.” -(2038.)

683. The object of Grafting is to be considered as three-fold.— The first is to preserve or multiply those approved varieties of trees -fruit-trees, particularly-which cannot be propagated with any certainty of success from seeds; because the quality of the seed, as we have seen, is liable to be affected by impregnation, occasioned by the casual introduction of the farina of congenerous trees into the blossoms. (See 601.)

The second is to accelerate fruitfulness by impeding the descent of the proper elaborated juices of the tree; thus promoting the principle of maturation, instead of that of growth.

The third is to induce fertility, and confine it within more contracted limits; this refers particularly to all those modes of operation by which dwarfing or reduction of size is produced. Grafting, then, may be rendered favourable to precocity, as well as to fertility. Mr. Knight observes, that the effects of grafting on the growth and produce of trees, "are similar to those which occur when the descent of the sap is impeded by a ligature, or by the destruction of a circle of bark. The disposition in young trees to produce and nourish blossom-buds and fruit, is increased by this apparent obstruction of the descending sap; and the fruit of such young trees ripens, I think, somewhat earlier than other young trees of the same age, which grow upon stocks of their own species; but the growth and vigour of the tree, and its power to nourish a succession of heavy crops, are diminished apparently by the stagnation in the branches and stock of a portion of that sap, which, in a tree growing upon its own stem, or upon a stock of its own species, would descend to nourish and promote the extension of the roots. The practice, therefore, of grafting the pear-tree on the quince-stock, and the peach and