TO GROW MISTETOE.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3030, 24 January 1899, Page 3

TO GROW MISTETOE.

As 'the festive season has just come and j gone.many-will once , more make ■ an effort to ! grow this parasitic shrub upon their apple tree's. : Now there could not bVa worse time than-this; and yet ! venture to say nineteen' out of every twenty; who; try will, be insert-^ ing berries about Christmas and. the. New Year. The berries are not ripe, and even if theywerej the' seed' could not germinate dur-J ing midwinter, weather. , : > ■-. > \ Some cut a slip in the bark, and squeeze a berry" beneath, others Bimply rub a ripe berry] upon the, outside of the bark, they are alBo; inserted in a crevice or hole in a decaying treei ; Grafting is the method sometimeri adopted, but one of the simplest and most successful is as follows: — . ' ; Procure some berries in May, when they are ripe, and : you can often see the growing points or radicles like a pin's head among the viscid pulp. Rub one "or two ' berries upon- the smooth young bark of a branch some two years' old. . The viscid matter will soon dry nndretain the seeds firmly. Cover with muslin or fine, wire gauzeto. keep birds away. *sTou ■' will also do well -to cover over the parent plant, or birds will eat the berries, before seed has ripened. Fix the berries upon the underside of the branch, and do not despair because the seed soon seems to have dried up and vanished. The radicles of the seed will turn over and secure themselves to the bark, and during this the initial growth is feeding upon the pulp of the berry as well as the seed^ gradually absorbing these entirely, and giving the impression of failure. Th« ensuing autumn the bark of the branch will be found slightly swollen both above and below where the seed was placed, -and early the next spring a pair of twin leaves may be found betwetJn those swellings. The parasite is now established, and although of slow growth you will very Bel do in fail to get a good head in course of, a few year 3. Strong growing apples are the best host plant for mistletoe, but poplars— if we except the Lombardy variety — oak, mountain ash, and hawthorn also suit it; even the Pinus iB a favourite host plant in Austria and Hungary. When a slit is made in the bark of a healthy branch, a hard callus is soon formed, and this more often than not proves impervious to the Beed radicles, or else chokes the young plant before it can force its w,ay to the light.