A GRAFTING WAX. 211 



mixed to the consistency of molasses, and put on with a 

 sponge. I understand the gentleman to say that you cannot 

 put on anything that will stop the flow of the sap, but you 

 must absorb it. The preparation I use is precisely the prep- 

 aration that a painter would use in coating over the knots in 

 the wood, before painting, to prevent the sap from coming 

 out of the knot and showing through the paint. Now, I beg 

 the gentleman's pardon when I say, that you can apply that 

 preparation to the wound of a tree and prevent the flow of 

 the sap, without any injurious consequences. The result will 

 be precisely this : Avhen the tree commences to make its 

 growth, of course the new growth will push between the bark 

 and the wood, and begin to heal over the wound. If you 

 saw ofl" a limb of a tree in June, and put on this preparation 

 of shellac and alcohol, it will harden in half an hour, and the 

 new growth will commence to push out and form over this 

 wound, and you can see this preparation on the part of the 

 wood that is not coated over just so long as it remains 

 uncoated. It keeps out the wet and keeps in the sap, for the 

 time being. 



Now, some do not understand the efiect of pruning in the 

 spring. Prof. J. G. Hyde, of Exeter, invited me out, some 

 years ago, to look at his orchard. He had selected the trees 

 with the best judgment and greatest care, and paid an extra 

 price for the Hrst pick of a nursery that I knew well. I went 

 out and looked at it, and found it had been pruned in the 

 spring before the leaves started, and the sap was running 

 down from every wound. He said, "Can you tell me the 

 cause of this?" "Yes," I said, "you pruned the trees at the 

 wrong season of the year. You pruned them before there 

 was any foliage to absorb the sap as it was flowing up." I 

 saw that orchard five or ten years afterwards, and it was 

 literally ruined, only a few of the trees remaining. It was 

 absolutely ruined by pruning at the wrong season of the year. 



I do not know as I was understood in regard to the time 

 of pruning. I do not recommend pruning in April ; I do not 

 recommend pruning in June. That is, I do not recommend 

 that as the time to take out large limbs. But the method 

 suggested by Mr. Wetherell, as the one practised by Mr. 

 Pierce, I do approve of and practice. That is, in the fall, 



