BUDDING AND GRAFTING. 125 



before it has time to unite with the stock. A calm atmosphere 

 and warm temperature, rather than wet and cold weather, are 

 move conducive to success, and certainly more agreeable to the 

 operator than when it is cold and stormy. The stone fruits, such 

 as cherries and plums, should be the first ones operated on ; after- 

 wards the pears and apples. 



The tools necessary for use in grafting are a saw, a pruning 

 knife, grafting iron or wedge, a budding knife, a pair of good 

 pruning shears, a whetstone to keep your knives in good condi- 

 tion, a bunch of raffia, bast, or waxed cloth for tying the grafts 

 and keeping them in their places when set ; also some kind of 

 grafting wax to cover the wounds to protect them from the air and 

 water. A number of grafting machines have been invented, 

 especially in France, where, since the ravages of the Phylloxera, 

 these machines have been in great demand, as they were thought 

 to be of great advantage in grafting the grape ; but an expert 

 workman will do the work quite as well with the tools named 

 above. There are many varieties of grafting wax and mastic, as 

 well as other compositions for the same purpose. In the old times 

 a composition of clay, cow manure, and chopped straw was used, 

 and is used by some even today ; and as it retains moisture better 

 than the modern grafting wax it is recommended for coarse work 

 and for covering large wounds in large operations. 



For grafting in the open air the following compound is much 

 used in this country : common rosin, four parts ; beeswax, two 

 parts ; mutton tallow, two parts ; all melted together. When 

 cool it is applied by the hand, or, being melted, applied with a 

 brush. 



In many large nurseries, where apples and pears are grafted in 

 winter, this wax is heated and applied thinly with a brush to 

 sheets of cloth, and after becoming cool the cloth is torn into 

 narrow strips and used in tying up the grafted roots and plants. 

 I have found that where only a limited supply is wanted, it is 

 cheapest to buy it already prepared, and for years I have used 

 that which is sold by nearly all seedsmen as Trowbridge's grafting 

 wax ; it is as good as, or better than, any of the French mastics. 



All scions should be cut before the sap begins to flow rapidly 

 (say from January to the middle of March) for all trees that are 

 hardy, and whose wood is not injured by freezing. But many 

 plants with slender stems are injured by freezing and if scions. 



