TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



REPORT OF EXPERIMENTAL.GRAFTS FOR 1872. 



Number one to nineten inclusive, ten grafts of each, grafted Feb. 

 first, eighteen seventy-two, using warm wax for dressing the joints, and 

 packing them in sawdust until planted, April twenty-sixth, eighteen sev- 

 enty-two. They were all planted at the same time and received the 

 same care and attention. The roots were cut in pieces three and a half 

 inches long and cion five inches. First cut of cion is the butt, the sec- 

 ond next to it, and the third the one with the terminal bud on it. The 

 first cut of root is the collar cut. C)ur roots were not long enough to 

 make a fourth cut as we did last year. 



There were of Nos. twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-two, twenty-five 

 grafts each. These were grafted to see how hot we could use the wax 

 and not injure them. The hot wax would run like water and burn the 

 hand if touched to it; the warm wax was a little thicker but would burn 

 the hand if held in it a second or two; the medium wax would not make 

 any rattling noise when a spoonful was taken up out of the bucket and 

 dropped into it again. When the wax will not make any rattling noise 

 when dropped into the bucket, you need not be afraid of its doing any 

 injury. You will see by the record we had about as good success with 

 the hot wax as we did with the medium warm. The advantage of using 

 the wax hot or warm is that it takes only about one fifth the wax. 



We use a two quart tin bucket — for the wax — fixed on a frame so 

 we can set a kerosene lam]) under it, and in this way we can keep the 

 wax about the right temperature. We use a wooden spoon — which- a 

 man can make in fifteen or twenty minutes — about one and a half inches 

 wide, with notches cut across at the handle, wide enough to receive the 



