ORCHARDS. 471 



The great care should be, that they are not kept too warm or too 

 moist, so that the buds swell before they are wanted for use. 

 The rationale of grafting will suggest the time and the manner 

 in which it should be done. The scion and graft are to be so 

 adjusted that the sap wood of the stock, by which the sap as- 

 cends from the roots, comes in contact with the sap wood of 

 the scion; and a like adjustment must be observed between 

 the inner bark of both through which the sap descends from 

 the graft to the stock, after it has been elaborated in the leaves. 

 Without the first precaution, the sap will not reach the graft, 

 which will consequently shrivel and die. Without the last, 

 the graft cannot knit or unite to the stock; for it is the de- 

 scending sap which forms the new wood, and which indeed 

 causes the graft to send its roots down into the earth, upon the 

 outside of the wood, but under the bark of the stock. The 

 union can only take place after the sap has begun to circulate 

 in the stock, which is when the buds are bursting. The clay 

 or composition is applied to exclude the drying influence of 

 the air and sun, and also rain, from the wound, until a complete 

 union has taken place. The graft does not become injured by 

 being somewhat shrivelled before it is inserted; but if it ap- 

 pears too much so, it may be buried a few hours in moist earth 

 before used. The compositions used as substitutes for clay are 

 many. A good one is, one part tallow, two parts beeswax, 

 and four parts rosin, melted and incorporated like shoemaker's 

 wax. If the weather is cold this will require to be softened 

 by immersing it a time in warm water. A thin layer of this, 

 covering the end of the stock and the slit, will suffice. With 

 the addition of a little more tallow, the composition may be 

 spread upon linen or cotton cloth, when warm, and the cloth 

 cut to the required size for a graft, and applied with less trou- 

 ble in the form of a prepared plaster. The different processes 

 of grafting are so generally known, that we need not detail 

 them; our object being only to throw out such suggestions as 

 may tend to render the success of operation more certain. 



Transplanting. Success in transplanting trees depends 

 much on the treatment they receive in that operation. On re- 

 moving the trees from the nursery, care should be taken to 

 prevent the roots from lying previously to planting them, 

 otherwise they may receive considerable injury; and when 

 they are to be transported to a distance, particular care should 

 be taken to preserve them from drying winds before packing. 

 Immediately on their receipt the bundles should be unpacked, 

 the roots well watered and "laid in" until the ground in which 

 they are to be planted be ready to receive them. By laying 

 in, is to be understood the making of a trench sufficiently large 



