312 Root-Grafting Apple Trees. 



the place of the old one, and always pruning off to a good 

 roimd plump eye. No system can be more simple, and we 

 are sure none more successful in securing a good crop of 

 grapes. 



Art. IV. Root-Grafting Apiple Trees. By a Flushing Prop- 

 agator. 



Allow me to give to the public, through your valuable jour- 

 nal, some account of the quickest and the easiest mode of 

 raising apple trees by root-grafting, as I am desirous of en- 

 couraging young nurserymen and propagators in the raising of 

 apple trees. 



1st. In the fall, all the seedling apple stocE:s intended for 

 grafting should be carefully taken up, and placed in a heap 

 in a cellar, and then the roots taken off and carefully pre- 

 served by mixing them by sand : all the scions intended for 

 use should be cut before the frosty weather sets in, and care- 

 fully placed in sand or earth. Grafting may be commenced 

 as early as convenient ; it will not matter if you begin as early 

 as November, and work at it through the winter till March, 

 provided the roots, after being grafted, are heeled into boxes, 

 and placed in the cellar till spring. 



2d. All the roots, as you want them, should be washed, 

 and then cut into pieces about four inches long or less, accord- 

 ing to their length, and placed regularly on a table or bench, 

 and the scions cut about three inches long, and placed in a 

 heap near at hand ; and then begin to graft. The system 

 which I have always tried, and which succeeded best, is 

 tongue-grafting, making a nice fit with the barks, and then 

 bind slightly with muslin strings. These strings are made 

 by mixing six ounces of Burgundy pitch, six do. of tallow, 

 three do. of beeswax. These should be melted, and then put 

 on to the muslin with a brush. It may then be cut into strips 

 nine inches long, and half an inch in breadth. This is bet- 

 ter than matting, as it does not require to be cut otf. The 

 boxes should be made twelve inches deep, two feet in width, 

 and three feet in length, and filled with fine sifted mould or sand. 



Trees grafted by tliis system are the best, grow very thrifty, 



