69 



Winkfield make most excellent stocks for most all other vari- 

 eties. 



Grafting is performed by inserting a scion of one variety on 

 the branch of another, called the stock, and trees of all ages 

 can be grafted successfully, if they be sound and healthy, and 

 the scions also. Scions are shoots of the previous year's growth, 

 and should be cut in February and tied up. The butt ends 

 should be cut square, then placed standing in some part of the 

 cellar floor where it is a little moist. Scions thus treated are 

 kept dormant until wanted, with no shriveling of the bark, and 

 will be in an excellent condition to use. They should be taken 

 from the upper branches of thrifty and hardy trees well ma- 

 tured. Scions bearing fruit buds should not be used, and a 

 medium size scion is better than one half an inch in diameter, 

 pithy and unripe. The implements used in grafting are very 

 simple ; the grafting knife with chisel attached, saw, and a 

 sharp knife to prepare the grafts with. There are various opin- 

 ions expressed in regard to what is the best composition to be 

 used in grafting. This subject was once extensively discussed 

 before the Bradford Farmer's Club. Some preferred a compo- 

 sition made from bees-wax, tallow and rosin, equal parts. 

 Others substituted linseed oil for tallow, with less bees-wax and 

 more rosin than of either. But the majority, from long expe. 

 rience, concluded that there was nothing equal to a simple 

 composition made from fresh cow manure and brick-clay; one- 

 third manure to two-thirds clay is about right to use. It will 

 adhere firmly to the wound until it is all healed, and retains 

 moisture, which is requisite during the process of healing ; 

 when it falls olf it leaves the bark on the wound healthy, fresh 

 and smooth ; in fact, it is nature's own remedy and we have 

 never known it to fail. On the other hand, a composition made 

 from oily substances must be injurious to the tree, as it is for- 

 eign to its nature, and hence it cannot but interrupt, in a great 

 measure, free circulation and impede progress in healing. 

 Aside from grafting, we believe that oil or grease should not be 

 applied in form to a tree, and in grafting, if the other agents 



