826 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK' 



CUTTING AND KEEPING GRAFTS. 



Many experienced orchardists suppose the best time for 

 cutting grafts to be immediately on the fall of the leaf in 

 autumn. 



Grafts should be cut in mild weather, when the wood is 

 entirely free from frost. Select the outside limbs and the 

 last year's growth of wood. 



Too much care cannot be observed in keeping the varie- 

 ties separate. Tie up in bundles and mark the names of 

 each kind as soon as cut. A moment's carefulness may save 

 years of vexation. 



When the grafts are to be used at home, it is well to lay 

 them in the cellar where frost will not reach them, and 

 slightly cover them, so that they shall not evaporate the 

 moisture which they cotitain. Too much wet injures them. 

 Half-dry sand is as good as anything, and if packed in an 

 old nail-keg and put in a cool place, they will require no 

 further attention until it is time to use them. 



"When grafts are to' be sent to a considerable distance, 

 they should be carefully wrapped in moist cloth, with folds 

 enough to exclude the air entirely. For convenience of 

 carrying they may be packed, in this condition, in a box, 

 and the space filled in with cotton-wool, chaff, bran, or any 

 similar substance. 



It is stated by some, that grafts taken from the lower 

 limbs of trees will produce fruit the soonest ; while those 

 from the middle and top and from the upright shoots will 

 make trees of the finest form. We confess a slight preju- 

 dice against the lower limbs of trees, as it was thence that 

 " switches " were cut in the mischievous days of our youth, 

 wherewith to apply Solomon's doctrine of discipline. 

 Whether they will make upright trees, we cannot say ; but 

 they are supposed to have a tendency to make upright 

 men. 



