172 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



the scion will be good or bad according as this contact is 

 more or less perfect. 



Of the many methods of grafting I will figure two, 

 one of which we shall use with our apple tree, the whip- 

 tongue graft ; the other, common cleft grafting, we may 

 need to know if we wish to add new varieties to an old 

 tree. Let us suppose that we have secured the scions of 



the kinds we wish and buried them 

 in the sand with the little trees in 

 the cellar. 



Along in March or April we will 

 take them both up and, selecting the 

 largest stock cut it off at the junction 

 of root and stem with one smooth, 

 slanting cut about an inch in length. 

 Selecting a scion that is the same size, 

 we will cut off its lower end in the 

 same way, and, splitting the stock 

 and scion a little, near the middle, as 

 shown in Fig. 69, slide them carefully 

 together. Wrap them tightly around 

 with fine cotton thread that has been dipped in melted 

 grafting wax and cover the whole wound with grafting 

 wax and replace it in the moist sand until spring. It 

 will be best to plant it back in the propagation bed and 

 let it grow there for two years. As the buds of your 

 graft start, allow only the strongest of them to grow to 

 form the trunk of the future apple tree ; and after two 

 years you should have an apple tree from four to six 

 feet tall, ready to transplant, as described for the grape- 

 vine. At the time of transplanting we shall cut the 



Fig. 69. Grafting a 

 Seedling Apple Tree 



