18 THE OECHARD AND FKUTT GABDEff. 



quarter of an inch thick, and then dust a little dry sand 

 all over the surface, to prevent its melting. 



The spring is the season for grafting. The time 

 should be chosen when the sap is just rising in the 

 stock, and before the buds in the scion begin to swell. 

 Promptitude is as necessary as precision a dawdling 

 grafter or b udder is very seldom a successful one. The 

 weather favourable to the operation is that which is 

 mild and moist ; a drying east wind is fatal to success, 

 and cold weather is bad, whether it be dry or wet. 

 Some persons encourage the sap to rise by covering the 

 earth round the roots with litter, rotten tan, or decayed 

 leaves, and others even water with warm water after 

 the grafting. 



It is necessary that the inner bark of stock and scion 

 be intimately united. This union is sometimes of the 

 bark all round, as is generally the case with whip- 

 grafting, and sometimes only on one side, as in side- 

 grafting. 



Whip or splice-grafting is that in most use for fruit 

 trees. It is best for the stock and scion to be the same 

 size in diameter, as then the union of the two takes 

 place all round, and is very secure ; but this is not 

 imperative, as the scion will grow if the inner bark or 

 alburnum in stock and scion intimately join in one part 

 only. Prune oif the stock to the desired height. The 

 graft should have at least three or four buds. Trim the 

 graft by cutting it with a long, diagonal cut, nearly, but 

 not quite through, and finish the operation with a short 

 cut, to meet the long cut at an angle. This second cut, 

 making a kind of notch, fixes the graft much more 

 firmly than when formed with one cut sloping all the 

 way. The stock must be cut with a tongue to fit the 

 notch in the graft as exactly as possible, stock and graft 

 accurately placed inner bark to inner bark, and bound 

 round and round securely with soft cotton, or strips of 

 bass. 



If the stock be larger round than the graft, the 

 portion of the graft left by the long cut must be 

 adjusted to the outer side of the stock, the notch being 



