■8 THE PROPAGATION OF FRUIT TREES. 



the wax, and then wax the whole. This will enable him to keep 

 his hands clean and free from grease while he is putting in the 

 scions. 



In grafting a large tree, it is advisable not to cut off all the 

 limbs in one season, even if it is intended eventually to graft 

 them all. If they are all cut off and grafted at once, there will 

 not be sufficient foliage formed by the grafts to elaborate the sap 

 that will ascend from the roots, thereby causing an unhealthy 

 condition, which often results in permanent disease and prema- 

 ture decay. The proper way is to graft not more than two-thirds 

 of the branches the first season, and if the scions have made a 

 good growth so as to furnish a good supply of foliage, then the 

 remaining branches may be cut away and grafted the next year. 

 If, however, the scions have made but a feeble growth, it is 

 best to graft but a portion of the remaining branches, leaving a 

 few to the subsequent season. 



It is best to graft the top and upper branches first, so that 

 the scions may not be shaded, and because the flow of sap is 

 strongest towards the higher branches, and these, if left on the 

 tree, would rob the scions set in the lower branches. If both 

 the scions grow that were put into one branch of the tree, select 

 the one that promises to be the more vigorous, and partly cut 

 back the other during the month of August, or, if you prefer, 

 at the next spring's pruning, so as to give the stronger one full 

 room to grow, while you use the other to help heal over the 

 stump, into which they were inserted, until such time as it can 

 be cut away altogether. Do not be too anxious to remove aU 

 the sprouts that will start : if they seem to choke the graft, cut 

 such back, but not wholly off; and only remove them entirely 

 when the graft has become a branch. 



For a better understanding of this mode of grafting, study 

 the drawings on page 6. Figure 1 shows the graft ready for 

 insertion ; and Figure 2, the cleft stock with the scions in place. 



The proper time for grafting large trees is in the spring, after 

 the sap has begun to move and the buds to swell If it be pos- 



