PROPAGATION BY BUI DING, GRAFTING, ETC. 



23 



Grafting Wax. 4 |>arts rosin, 3 parts beeswax, 3 parts mrd. This 

 ebould be well incorporated together while warm, strips of cotton 

 cloth dipped into it, and when cold, cut to the length and width re- 

 quired for the size of limbs you are to engraft, will facilitate the labor ; 

 and when this is done, the first tying of bass mat or woolen string, 

 may be dispensed with. 



Grafts which have become dry, may be restored if the moisture is 

 applied so gradually, that its absorption may require several weeks. 

 In one instance, shoots cut early in Autumn, and subjected to thorough 

 drying, were restored to perfect freshness by the next Spring, by 

 wrapping them well in moss, and burying them in the ground j and, 

 being set, they all grew. 



Scions for sending to a distance, are usually packed in damp moss, 

 saw-dust, or fibrous peat. They may be sent by mail, within a very 

 small compass, with great safety, by enwrapping them with oil-silk, or 

 thin oil-cloth, drawing it closely round them, to include the moisture 

 by means of small thread. Partially decayed wood from the fores^ 

 is also used successfully for keeping scions. 



Layering. This is practiced in low shrubs and vines, as the quince 

 and grape. It consists in bending down carefully without breaking a 

 branch, cutting a notch, or slit, on the under side, immediately below 



abud, and pegging it securely, 

 so that the centre will be 

 about four inches under 

 ground (see fig. 14). With the 

 I grape, trailing the vine on the 

 ^ p surface, as shown in fig. 15, 

 ^^^^^""^ and after buds have started a 

 I few inches, cover with soil the 



Fig. 14, vine ; each bud will throw 



out roots, and if the operation 

 be performed in Spj^ng, they may be taken up and separated in the 



Fig. 15. 



