ENGRAFTING. 119 



tube. The paper may be kept in its place by pins, 

 or a tying of twine; and its great use is both to 

 prevent rains from washing off the clay, and the 

 sun from shrivelling the bark of the young shoot, 

 before its veins have received the strange but vital 



O 



fluid. About midsummer give relief to the knit 

 joint, by removing the clay and bandage; but as 

 the wind may prove trying to the recent graft, the 

 bond must be restored, and that so easy as not to 

 impede the circulation, and yet so firm as to guard 

 against a rupture of the union. In the case of 

 old trees, where the grafts are higher and more 

 exposed, where there is no elasticity in the old 

 stem, causing all the pressure to come on the weak 

 part, and where the graft, after it has grown a 

 whole year, is liable to be carried away, it is 

 necessary, not only to continue the matting ban- 

 dage, but, sometimes, to strengthen the joint, by 

 fastening a rod or switch below it, to the old stem, 

 and above it, to the young wood. This will make 

 sure against all hazards till the joining, encompas- 

 sed with new bark, has become as strong as any 

 part of the tree. 



As to the mode of engrafting on old stocks, the 

 following will be found the most convenient in 

 every case, being at once the easiest to perform and 

 the surest of success. Cut off all the branches a 

 little above the stem, leaving as many stumps as 

 may serve for the insertion of ten or twelve young 

 shoots; make the cut smooth and horizontal. This 

 is better for preserving the wood in sap, and when 



