APPENDIX,,// ;'95 



commence to grow in the following spring, and then 

 the stocks must be cut back to within a few inches 

 of where the buds are inserted. Many nurserymen, if 

 they find that the bud has not taken, graft the same 

 stock in the following spring, instead of waiting to bud 

 again in summer. 



Grafting consists in so attaching one shoot to another 

 that they unite and grow together. There are many 

 different methods of grafting, but that most usually 

 employed in the grafting of pear trees is tongue or 

 splice grafting. This is done in the month of March, 

 with firm growth of the preceding year. First cut 

 the stock in a sloping direction, and so that the cut 

 may terminate just above a bud if possible. " Great 

 care must be taken that the scions fit the stocks," 

 is the recommendation of one of our large nursery 

 growers of pear trees, and one that should be closely 

 followed. Therefore choose a graft as nearly as pos- 

 sible of the same? size as the stock. Having cut the 

 graft to a suitable length, say nine or ten inches, cut 

 the lower end (that is, the thicker one) exactly as the 

 top of the stock was cut, so that when placed together 

 they will properly fit upon each other. The essential 

 point is, of course, to make sure that the inner bark of 

 the one coincides with the inner bark of the other, as 

 then the cambium layers will also coincide. The graft 

 should be carefully and securely tied on to the stock 

 with raffia, and then covered over with either clay or 

 grafting wax, so as effectually to prevent the entrance 

 of air. It is advisable to place moss over the clay, so 

 that in dry weather this can be watered to prevent the 

 clay from becoming dry. Unless there were a covering 

 of some material capable of holding moisture, it would 

 be impossible to keep the clay in anything like a moist 

 condition. When it is seen that the graft commences 

 to grow freely, the clay may be partly removed so as 



