THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 295 



sawed off square, and should be smoothed with a 

 knife, as a wound in wood smoothed is less liable to 

 injure the tree, and heals more readily than one left 

 rough. The cut branch is then split or cleft with a 

 suitable knife, a wedge is inserted to keep the parts 

 separate, and a scion, with one end pointed into ^ 

 wedge-like form, is carefully placed in the cleft, the 

 bark of the scion and that of the tree being accu- 

 rately adjusted to each other. Most frequently two 

 scions are put in each cleft, one at each side, and, 

 the wedge being taken out, they are held firmly in 

 their places until the union takes place. As exclu- 

 sion of the air is requisite, compositions either of 

 clay or wax are used for this purpose, and to facili- 

 tate the union of the scion with the stock. Graft- 

 ing-clay is made of equal parts of horse-manure 

 free from litter, cow-manure, and good stiff clay, to 

 which is added a small quantity of hair, and the 

 whole is well worked into a stiff mortar. Grafting- 

 wax is made of equal parts of rosin and beeswax, 

 and a little tallow. The whole is melted together, 

 turned into cold water, and then worked by the hand, 

 like shoemakers' wax, until it obtains the proper 

 consistence. If spread on brown paper or on cot- 

 ton cloth, and cut into strips, it can be applied more 

 readily and neatly than in the common mode of 

 using it. There are several kinds of grafting, such 

 as cleft-grafting, or the one we have described, side- 

 grafting, root-grafting, grafting by approach, saddle- 

 grafting, and splice or whip grafting ; but they are 

 little used except by nurserymen, and the particular 

 methods may be found in works devoted to the 

 orchard and the fruit-garden. In the selection of 

 scions, those from the horizontal or spreading 

 brandies will usually be found better than those cut 

 from the thrifty perpendicular shoots, as they make 

 better bearers. 



As our space is limited, we shall only select for 

 notice such fmits as are more particularly adapted 



