NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



a budding-knife, a small can for the wax, with 

 a paint brush to put it on the graft -joint, a 

 stock of small strips of white cloth. Other 

 and more elaborate grafting devices can be 

 bought, but Mr. Burbank considers these 

 sufficient, too elaborate an outfit being a 

 hindrance rather than a help. 



The wax he recommends should be made of 

 four pounds of resin to one pound of beeswax, 

 with enough linseed oil to make it work well. 

 This, when melted up together and allowed 

 to cool, forms a cake from which enough can 

 be broken at any time for the work in hand, 

 and the rest will keep indefinitely. The piece 

 which is broken off should be heated until it is 

 warm enough to flow easily. It should not be 

 too soft or it will run in the warm sun, nor 

 too hard or it will crack. The object is to 

 protect the union of the graft and the tree 

 by means of the wax and the enclosing 

 bandage of cloth, and a very little experience 

 will show when the wax is of just the right 

 consistency. It is well, if there is considerable 

 grafting to be done, to keep the can or pot 

 containing the wax over a lamp or small oil- 

 stove in order to hold it at the proper con- 



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