liable to be injured by wet; two or three day's rain will do the crop much injury, and a succession of wet will spoil it altogether. It appears that those who have been the most successful cultivators of barley in days gone by, have paid particular attention to the budding of trees, and have regulated the time of sowing chiefly by

that circumstance. Thus the Norfolk farmers have a maxim handed down from father to son:

"When the oak puts on his gosling grey

'Tis time to sow barley night and day."

And as the grey appearance given to the oak by the first opening of the buds was a sign given to the Norfolk people, so the leaves of

the birch is a sign to the Swedish farmer, that it is the right season to begin their labours; and various signs of a similar nature are attended to in every country, by the diligent observers of Nature. Keep to your old grandmother, or mother Nature, says Peter Parley, and you will find, my farming friends, a set of good old saws, of which you can make modern instances of great service to you in field occupations.

In the middle of March farmers sow oats; field-peas are sown at the same time. March is also the proper season for sowing the early crop of potatoes. The month of March is also the proper season for grafting, inarching, and budding, which every one ought to know how to perform, and therefore I shall endeavour, as well as I am able, to give my young friends a description of the way I practise it in my garden.

The operation of grafting is sometimes performed by Nature. When two branches of a tree lie in contact, the rough winds of winter often cause them to rub against each other, so that a wound is produced in one or in both, and the juices that flow from the wounded parts gradually cause an incorporation of the substances, so that the two branches become united into one. This is not to be wondered at in the branches of the same tree, or in those of the same kind, but it is a matter of some surprise to find that a tree bearing small and unpalatable fruit may be cut down, and the remaining part grafted with a scion from a species bearing large and delicious fruit, instead of the small, sour, fruit of the stock. Thus it is, then, that by grafting we preserve and multiply approved varieties of trees, which could not be propagated from seeds with any certainty of success.

In order to the full success of the operation, grafting must be performed according to the rules that experience has laid down. The first is to graft or unite only such species as have a relationship subsisting between them. The operation never succeeds unless this union of nature is attended to, and the plants belong to

the same genus. The next rule requires that the inner bark of the scion, and the inner bark of the stock, be exactly united together, in order to facilitate the free course of the sap.

The most common method of grafting is called whip or tongue

grafting. The name is given from the method of cutting the stock and the scion, sloping on one side, so as to fit each other, and then tying them together, in the manner of a whip thong, to the shaft or handle. The scion and the stock are cut obliquely, and as nearly as possible at corresponding angles. The top of the stock is then cut

off nearly horizontally, and a slit is made near the centre of the stock downwards, and a similar one in the scion upwards. The tongue, or wedge-like process, forming the upper part of the slope's face of the scion, is then inserted downwards in the cleft of the stock, the inner barks being brought closely to unite on one side so as not to be displaced by tying; which ought to be done immediately with a riband, or matting, or boss, brought in a neat manner several

times round the stock. The next operation is to clay the whole over an inch thick all round, from about half an inch or more below the bottom of the graft, to an inch over the top of the stock, finishing the coat of clay in a kind of oval or globular form, closing it effectually, so that no light, wet nor wind may penetrate.

Tongue grafting is not very different to whip grafting, and is performed as follows:-The stock being ready, cut it off at three or four inches from the ground, and with a very sharp, straight, and narrow-bladed grafting knife, cut a thin slip of wood and bark upwards, from about two inches below the top of the shortened stock. Make this cut at one pull of the knife, inserting the edge rather horizontally, and, when it has gone through the bark and into the wood a little short of the middle, pull straight upwards. Then, at less than half way down this, cut a thin tongue, not more than three-eighths of an inch long. Proceed in the same way with the hollow part of the scion, make a sloping cut of about the same length as the cut in the stock, and make a tongue to correspond with that