STATE HORTICU1.TURAL SOCIETY, 299 



cellar, or a dry bank outside, where they can be got at early in 

 the spring. 



The graft should always be made at the collar, and therefore 

 the stems of the plant are cut away at that point when they are 

 dug. When ready for grafting, first trim back the small top 

 roots and cumbrous latterals, leaving the stocks six to eight 

 inches long and wash them clean. (Our western nurserymen 

 are accused of using shorter stocks and making two or more from 

 each seedling root, a practice which has, I think, many objec- 

 tions.) The grafter then makes a smooth, sloping upward cut 

 an inch long on the collar of the root (A Fig. 1), and in the 

 center of this cut he makes a downward slit, or tongue (B Fig. 

 1). The cion, which should be three or four inches long, is cut 

 on the lower end with a sloping, downward cut (A Fig. 2), and 

 similar in every respect to that made on the stock; an upward 

 slit or tongue is made in it (B Fig. 2) corresponding also with 

 that on the stock, and they are then fitted together — the tongue 

 of the one within the other (A Fig. 3) — and the inner barks of 

 both placed in close and perfect contact, at least on one side. 

 The fits should be so complete as to set close and firm at all 

 points. 



The next operation is to apply the wax, which is usually done 

 by winding firmly with waxed thread or narrow strips of waxed 

 cloth. I do not use wax on root grafts, but wind them with fine 

 carpet yarn, and find it better than the old way. 



Whip grafting on small trees standing in the open ground, and 

 on the small branches of larger trees, is performed in precisely 

 the same manner, but greater care must be exercised in waxing 

 them, to protect from air and water. 



The grafting of nursery stock is usually done in the latter part 

 of the winter, and the grafted plants are j)ut away as closely as 

 they can be packed in small boxes, with sandy earth or sawdust 

 among the roots, and deposited in a cold cellar, but where frost 

 cannot penetrate, until planting time. 



Cleft grafting is practiced on trees or branches too large for 

 whip grafting, say from three-fourths of an inch upward. In this 

 case the base of the cion is cut precisely in the form of a wedge 

 (A Fig. 4.). The part for insertion in the stock should be about 

 an inch or an inch and a half long with a bud (A. Fig. 4) at the 

 shoulder, where it is to rest on the stock. The bud hastens the 

 union of the parts in the same way as a bud at the base of a cut- 

 ting set in the earth hastens and facilitates the formation of 



