PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING. 79 



least on one side. The fit should be so complete as to sit 

 close and firm in all parts. The person who aj^plies the 

 wax, takes a narrow strip of the cloth described, and 

 wraps it firmlj around, covering the parts united. A man 

 and boy can graft of these twelve to fifteen hundred per 

 day, and by a special effort two thousand. When the 

 grafting is thus performed, the grafted plants are put 

 away as closely as they can be packed in small boxes, 

 with sandy earth among the roots, and deposited either 

 in a cold cellar or in a dry place out of doors, where 

 . frost cannot penetrate to the roots, until planting time in 

 spring. 



Whij) Grafting on small trees, standing in the open 

 ground, is performed in precisely the same manner, the 

 oblique or sloping cut and tongue, corresponding in stock 

 and graft, fitting into each other with precision, and the 

 inner bark of both, at least on one side, placed in close 

 contact. Stocks an inch in diameter can be grafted in this 

 way. Either the cloth or the liquid composition may be 

 applied, the latter put on with a brush. For all moderate 

 sized stocks the cloth is preferable. In cold weather, a 

 small furnace can be kept at hand to keep the composi- 

 tion in working order. 



Cleft Grafting is practised on trees or branches too 

 large for whip grafting, say from an inch in diameter up- 

 wards. In this case, the scion is cut precisely in the form of 

 a wedge (fig. 74). The part cut for insertion in the stock, 

 should be about an inch or an inch and a half long, with 

 a bud {A) at the shoulder, where it is to rest on the stock ; 

 this bud hastens the union of the parts, in the same way 

 as a bud at the base of a cutting, set in the earth, hastens 

 and facilitates the emission of roots : the outer edge should 

 also be somewhat thicker than the inner. A sloping cut 

 {A^ fig 75) is then made on the stock, an inch and a half 



