i8o The Apple. 



being held all the while in the left hand, until worked up. The 

 great point is to perform much with little handling. A single root 

 will sometimes make but one graft, but more commonly two or three, 

 and sometimes more. Each portion of root should be about three 

 inches long, and the graft about five inches. 



Root-grafting may be performed at any time during winter, and 

 those who have much of it to do, often continue the process the 

 winter through. The roots when taken up in autumn, should be 

 well washed, the tops cut off, and the roots packed in boxes with 

 alternate layers of damp moss. Thrifty one-year roots are better 

 and more easily worked than two-year roots. Side roots, or 

 branches, should never be used. The scions may be kept in the 

 same way. This is better than packing them in sand, which imparts 

 a grit to them and dulls the knife. Different modes are adopted for 

 packing away the grafts. The best is to place them flat in boxes, in 

 alternate layers with sand, like miniature cord-wood, keeping the 

 outer or graft-ends very even, and carrying up each layer separately 

 and one at a time, so that one may be taken up for setting out, with- 

 out interfering with the next succeeding pile. The sand should be 

 slightly moist and not wet. The varieties should be distinctly 

 marked on strips of board separating each kind, where there is more 

 than one in a box ; and in addition to this, a card should be nailed 

 on the outside, naming the kinds, at the point of separation between 

 them. A record should also be make as they are deposited, of the 

 sorts, their order, and the number of each. Boxes two feet long, a 

 foot wide, and six inches deep, are a convenient size, and will hold 

 from one to two thousand each. If furnished with bow handles, 

 they are easily carried at once to the field for setting out. Boxes 

 holding twenty thousand or more, keep the grafts equally well, but 

 require additional labor in unpacking when set. 



They should be set out in spring as soon as the soil is sufficiently 

 dry, and there is no further danger of its freezing severely. Special 

 pains should be taken to pack the earth well about them, as they are 

 dibbled in. The tips of the grafts should project about half an inch 

 above the surface. The proper depth of setting is controlled some- 

 what by circumstances ; if deep, the soil may be too cold to start 

 them well ; if not deep enough, the drought of summer may destroy 

 them. An active hand will set two or three thousand in a day, and 

 in rare instances five thousand. 



The following figures exhibit the difference between good and bad 

 planting out. Fig. 237 represents a graft well set out the earth 

 packed closely around the root, which is sending out new fibres, and 



