OP FRUIT TREES. 39 



" The following new mode of grafting," says Dr. 

 Mease, (Dom. Ency.) " the late Mr. A. C. Du Plaine 

 informed the editor, was long kept a secret in 

 France. A limb of willow, three or four inches 

 thick, was buried in a trench deep enough to re- 

 ceive it, and at the distance of every four or five 

 inches, holes were bored, into which grafts were 

 inserted, care being taken to make the bark of the 

 graft, and the limb into which it was inserted touch ; 

 the lower part of the graft was pointed and the 

 bark shaved off. The limb and the grafts were 

 then covered with earth and kept moist, and about 

 two inches of the latter left above the surface. In 

 process of time the limb rotted, and the grafts took 

 root. The different grafts were then dug up and 

 transplanted." In the same valuable publication, 

 Dr. Mease has communicated an account of the 

 mode of Mr. William Fairman, of " extreme-branch 

 grafting" upon old decayed trees, " which promises 

 to be of a very great acquisition to those who take 

 pleasure in cultivating fruit." The process is as 

 follows: "Cut away all spray wood, and make the 

 tree a perfect skeleton, leaving all the healthy 

 limbs ; then clean the branches, and cut the top of 

 each off, where it would measure in circumference 

 from the size of a shilling to about that of a crown 

 piece. Some of the branches must of course be 

 taken off where they are a little larger, and some 

 smaller, to preserve the canopy or head of the tree ; 

 and it will be necessary to take out the branches 

 which cross others, and observe the arms are left 

 to fork off, so that no considerable opening is to be 

 perceived when you stand under the tree, but that 

 they may represent a uniform head. When pre- 

 paring the tree, leave the branches sufficiently long 

 to allow of two or three inches to be taken off by 

 the saw, that all the splintered parts may be re- 

 moved. The tree being thus prepared, put in one 

 or two grafts at the extremity of each branch, and 



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