PROPAGATION OF CITRUS TREES. igl 



Instead of tearing the cloth into strips four or five 

 inches wide, it may be dipped into the wax in large sheets, 

 immediately removed and stretched out on a flat surface. 

 Or the cloth may be stretched out and the hot wax applied 

 to its surface with a brush. When prepared by either 

 of these methods, it may be torn into strips from one-half 

 to three-quarters of an inch wide and wound around a 

 stick as before, or carried to the field in small, rectangu- 

 lar sheets, from which strips may be torn as they are 

 needed. 



If twine is desired, procure balls of No. 18 knitting 

 cotton and place them in the melted wax. Keep them 

 immersed and turn them over frequently. In the course 

 of five or six minutes the wax will have penetrated through 

 and through, when they may be removed and set aside. 

 Untreated cloth or twine or raffia may be used instead 

 of the waxed material, but the advantage of the latter 

 over the former is that while possessing sufficient strength, 

 it is more easily broken and it is not necessary to tie 

 them about the stock. They may be drawn tight, where- 

 upon the sticky, waxy surface will hold the wrapping in 

 place. 



Tools. Good grafting and pruning knives may be 

 procured from almost any hardware merchant or from 

 dealers in horticultural implements and supplies. The 

 budding knife should have a thin blade, rounded at the 

 point. In the end of the handle a piece of thin bone is in- 

 serted, or the end of the handle is thinned down to serve 

 the same purpose. This spatula at the end of the handle 

 is intended for lifting the edges of the bark in budding, 

 as explained in the section on budding, but as a matter 

 of fact, it is seldom used, the blade of the knife being 

 used instead. 



