April 1892.] THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 347 



edge of a razor after it had been sharpened on the hone, as he 

 considered that the flexible strop had the effect of rounding 

 the edge it had received from the hone and thus destroying 

 its cutting power. Dr Sang said he invariably shaved with 

 a razor straight from the hone, and did not use a strop for 

 the above reason. Mr Forgan said he had followed this plan 

 himself, and found that if due attention was paid to the one 

 sharpening, no strop would improve the cutting edge. He 

 showed to the meeting a very fine large hone which had 

 been bought by his grandfather more than 100 years ago and 

 was of excellent quality. These hones come from slate 

 quarries near Eatisbon. 



Mr M'Alpine remarked that while for the purposes of 

 shaving it might be possible to use a knife straight from the 

 hone, for microtome sections it was necessary to use the strop 

 after the hone. 



Mr GuSTAV Mann pointed out that examination through 

 the microscope of the edge of a razor straight from the hone 

 showed a serrated edge which was fatal to microtome sections, 

 especially if the " rocker-microtome " was used ; the uneven- 

 ness of edge must be removed by the strop before cutting line 

 sections. 



On Geafting Fkuit Trees for Transport. By James 

 Grieve. 



The author exhibited specimens of grafted apples of a 

 convenient size for transport by post. The stocks may be 

 either two-year seedling crab or one-year Paradise cuttings, 

 and are potted in the autumn into three-inch pots, and 

 grafted in February or March under glass. The grafting 

 wax used is composed as follows : — 



Eesin, . 1 lb. | Tallow, . -h lb. 



Pitch, . . 1 lb. I Beeswax, . ^ lb. 



The ingredients are melted together, and the composition is 

 put on with a brush when in a warm liquid state. The 

 quantity above mentioned should seal several hundreds of 

 grafts. A plant one-year-old weighs not more than three or 

 four ounces, and can therefore be transported at minimum cost. 



