-^ <!}^^(?tior) i)pa(jo^p. ^ 



Grafting Broken Trees. 



594. Sir, — On the 15th of December we liad a heavy rain from the east which froze 

 as it fell, and continued all night. The sight which met our gaze the next morning was 

 enough to sicken a lover of trees ; trunks and limbs bent, broken, split and torn ; hard- 

 wood, softwood, evengreen, all shared the same ; fruit, shade, ornamental, forest tree3 ; 

 scarcely any are spared. Large numbers are split and broken to the ground, altogether 

 the worst damage from an ice-storm we have ever experienced. It will be many years 

 before the damage is repaired. I have thought that the best plan to take with the frui 

 trees whose tops are l)roken beyond repair, would l>e to saw off the trunks below the break 

 and graft them. Would that not be the ({uickest way to replace the trees ? 



Geukge Wood, Monticdlo, Out. 



The plan proposed by our corres- 

 pondent might succeed in the case of 

 comparatively young trees, where the 

 balance between root and top is not 

 too much disturbed ; but the removal 

 of tlic whole top at once is usually 

 fatal, or at least so stunts the growth 

 that it never recovers. The shock is 

 of course worse if done in summer, 

 but, even if done when dormant, the 

 young shoots and grafts will hardly 

 produce sufficient leaves to keep the 

 trees alive. When grafting old trees, 

 is on this account usual to renew only 

 a portion of the tree each year, leaving a num- 

 ber of branches with heavy foliage to continue 

 the health of the tree. Probably the method of 

 crown grafting, illustrated some time ago in our 

 Journal, would serve in many cases such as our 

 correspondent describes. To perform this mode 

 of grafting, the main trunk and large upright 

 branches are sawed off smoothly, the ends of 

 5;iiiiil!ilHll!!iil!iJiSi!"""** four or five scions are beveled on one side and 



Fig. 4Io. inserted under the bark, and the cut sections 



are then wrapped in paper. The wounds are well pressed with clay or grafting 

 wax, and the cap-like cavity formed by the paper wraps serves to hold the clay 

 in place. This is a simple method, requiring few tools, and as likely to succeed 

 as the more scientific method of cleft-grafting. The latter is, of course, the only 

 proper method of dealing with smaller limbs. 



(36) 



