METHODS OF GRAFTING 24! 



inch, so the healing may be completed in a single season, 

 thus lessening the chances of decay. In such cases only 

 one cion is needed. When large stocks are used it may 

 be necessary to keep the cleft wedged apart so as not to 

 squeeze the cion too much. Such wedges should be 

 placed in the heart wood and cut off even with the face 

 of the stub. 



313. Grafting irons are of two general forms ; one sug- 

 gesting a sickle with its point reversed and thickened to 

 form a four or five-inch wedge, the 

 other a straight shank with blade on 

 one side and the wide wedge at the 

 end on the other. (Fig. 194.) The 

 former, usually homemade, is more 

 of a splitting tool, useful for straight- 

 grained wood; the latter, sold by 

 nursery and seed houses, rather a 

 cutting tool suitable for gnarly 



Stocks. FIG. 196 NEWLY 



, , . SPROUTED CLEFT GRAFT 



In waxing, time may be saved in Note upward trend of twigs . 

 cold weather if the wax is kept warm 



and soft in hot water. A cabinetmaker's glue 

 pot is very handy for liquid waxes to be brushed 

 on wounds. In weather warm enough to keep 

 wax fairly soft, application with the hands is to be pre- 

 ferred, since every crevice can thus be surely filled. To 

 prevent wax from sticking to the skin grease the hands 

 well. 



Solid wax is best applied when worked out by the 

 hands into ribbons of, say, one-eighth inch thick. Start- 

 ing at the top of the cion, the ribbon is pressed against 

 and into the crack down the side of the stub, less being 

 needed below than above. Next a ribbon is wound 

 around the point where stock and cion join and pressed 

 down well. The second cion is similarly treated. 

 Finally the parts of the stub still exposed are covered 

 with a spoon-shaped piece of wax, care being taken to 



