212 Appendix. 



lying on the ground, or standing under the limbs all winter, old birds- 

 nests in the trees, and the ground covered with wormy and diseased 

 apples, all go to tell me that such conditions are detrimental to the best 

 interests of successful horticulture. It is very necessary and beneficial 

 to give the bodies of your apple trees a general annual cleaning during 

 the early part of spring. The loose, rough bark should be scraped off, 

 and the old wounds cleaned out and thoroughly waxed. And right herfe 

 I want to advise you to stop using paint, or anything other than good 

 grafting wax on any wound on an apple tree. Saw off a larga limLs, 

 paint the wound, and one year afterwards you will find the outer part 

 of the wound looks all right; but upon investigation you will find that 

 dry rot has begun about one quarter of an inch under surface of wood. 

 If the same wood had been covered with good grafting wax, it would: 

 have been in a state of almost perfect preservation. To make a goDi 

 grafting wax, melt together four pounds of resin, two pounds of beas- 

 wax, and one pound of tallow. Before using, thin with turpentine. 

 This wax can be used when cold. After the bodies of trees are thor- 

 oughly cleaned and wounds v/axed, I deem it advisable to give them a 

 cover of v/hitewash. Now, don't imagine for a moment that this will 

 stop up all pores of the bark and forever ruin your trees, as many 

 people advocate. One week after the wash is applied it is more porus 

 than the bark. I have experimented for the last five years upon the 

 making of this wash; and while the following formula may be im- 

 proved upon, yet it is the best of all that I have ever used. Dissolve 

 one pound of resin with one pound of concentrated lye. Add to this 

 ten pounds of lime just after you have slacked it. Then add enough 

 water to make paste suitable for whitewash, after which add one quart 

 of flour made into good starch. 



This wash will clean the bodies of trees of all fungi growth or inse:t 

 pests. It will protect your trees from extreme heat of the sun, hence 

 avoiding any sun-scalded trees. And it will lessen the evaporation of 

 sap while passing from the roots to the top. 



If you should be so unfortunate as to get some trees untrue to name, 

 or make a mistake in your judgment when you first set your orchard, 

 and finally discover that you have an orchard of undersirable and 

 unprofitable trees, don't wait for years before you change them, but do 

 it at once. If your trees are not strong bodied dig them up and set 

 others; but if they have strong, healthy and vigorous bodies, by all 

 means graft them. I prefer the side graft. A split graft leaves a 

 decayed place in the tree. The budding does not make so strong a 

 union as a side graft. Don't let some one make you believe it does not 

 pay to graft, that you had better dig out the objectionable trees and 

 set in new ones. 



I have in my orchard over seven hundred grafted trees, which are 

 just as pretty as the picture I will show you. But don't imagine that 

 you can stick the grafts into the trees and have no further trouble. It 

 takes constant care and attention to grow a well-balanced top upon a 



