10 



THE PROPAGATION OP FRUIT TREES. 



necessary to fasten them, by tying with bass-matting or cotton 



yarn, or a narrow strip of thin 

 cotton cloth. This is usually 

 done by carefully winding around 

 both stock and scion, where uni- 

 ted, a narrow strip of thin cotton 

 cloth, or even thin paper or cot- 

 ton yarn, which has been cover- 

 ed or saturated with grafting wax. 

 When this is neatly done there 

 is no need of any knot, the wax 

 holding the ligature in its place. 

 In grafting branches of trees in 

 this way, care must be taken to 

 exclude perfectly air and water 

 Pig. 4. Pig. 5. Fig. 8. from the wounded parts. "When 



nurserymen propagate trees in this way, they select strong and 

 vigorous seedlings, which they pack away in the cellar in moist ' 

 sand before the ground freezes; these they graft with scions of 

 any desired variety at their leisure, 

 during the months of January, Febru- 

 ary or March, and as soon as grafted 

 pack the grafts in boxes of sand or moist 

 sawdust, and store them in the cellar 

 until ready to plant them in the ground 

 in the spring. When planted out, the 

 place of union between the stock and 

 scion is wholly under ground, and being 

 in this way protected from the sun and 

 air by the surrounding soil, it is not ne- 

 cessary to be so particular to cover the pig. t. fig. 6. 

 union with grafting wax as in the case of top grafting, where the 

 whole is exposed to all the changes and influences of the atmos- 

 phere. It is a conunon practice with nurserymen to wind 

 cotton yam into medium sized balls and boil them in a composi- 



