i88i.] FRUIT- CULTURE. 399 



regretfully dug out and replaced with young ones. A better plan, if 

 the trees are healthy, is to graft them with suitable kinds. Not only 

 is the risk of again planting misnamed sorts avoided, but especially, 

 in the case of wall-trees, the space will be much sooner filled up. 



The operation is in itself simple. In order to insure success, the 

 necessary shoots which are to be engrafted on to the tree — young ones 

 — should be removed from the trees while they are still dormant, and 

 put into the soil like cuttings, in a shady place, and there left till 

 needed. The trees to be grafted should be allowed to swell their buds 

 before being operated upon. In the case of wall-trees, each branch 

 should be cut back to within 4 inches from where it starts, and there 

 grafted. Branches not thicker than one's finger should be whip- 

 grafted, but if much thicker, crown - grafting is more suitable. In 

 putting on whip-grafts, the inside bark of the stock and scion should 

 correspond along one side, and at the end at least, for there the junc- 

 tion takes place. When the operation is complete, the scion should 

 be carefully bound in its place with soft matting, and then covered over 

 with half an inch of good clay (well worked and mixed with one-third 

 of horse-droppings or chopped hay to make it hold on, as plaster does 

 when mixed with hair). To insure its sticking, rub a quarter of an 

 inch over the matting, and when that adheres, put on another quarter, 

 and finish the whole with hands dipped in water, which will enable 

 the operator to put on a smooth surface. When carefully done, the 

 clay very seldom falls off. Grafting mixtures, to be used instead of 

 clay, are sold, and these have the advantage of being cleaner. Direc- 

 tions for use accompany each box. 



Those who wish may raise their own trees. The simplest way of 

 doing this is to sow the seeds of hardy kinds early in spring, and to 

 nurse the trees until they are the thickness of one's fore-finger, when 

 they may be grafted by whip-grafting. The seeds from fine kinds are 

 not so good for stocks as the hardy kinds, and seeds from American 

 Apples are of no use at all, for nine out of every ten will prove too 

 tender. If Crab seeds are to be had, they should be treated similarly. 

 When the seedlings are one year old, they require planting into nursery- 

 beds 6 inches apart in the row, and 2 feet between the rows. In trans- 

 planting, always cut off the point of the tap-root, to induce the forma- 

 tion of fibry roots. Paradise and Doucin stocks are propagated by 

 cuttings of the ripe wood, put in on a shady border in sandy soil any 

 time during winter. These stocks may be had, from those nurserymen 

 who deal in them, very cheaply by the 100 or 1000. Bits of roots from 

 established trees maybe used on an emergency, when no other stocks are 

 at hand, and valuable grafts in the possession of the grower. The more 

 fibres there are on the roots, the better will be the chance of success. 

 Care should be taken not to allow the roots to get dry while they are 

 out of the ground. 

 Moss and Licliem on A2yple-tre€s. — Old trees often get covered over 



