238 GRAFTING 



that the two plants be tied in such a manner as to hold them 

 perfectly rigid until the union is complete. Raffia or soft 

 string is generally used for tying herbaceous grafts, and 

 they are covered with sphagnum moss to keep them moist. 

 The grafts of trees and shrubs are sometimes waxed. 

 After the two plants have united the stock above the union 

 may be pruned off and the plant originally producing the 

 scion may be cut below the union. Potatoes may be 

 grafted upon tomatoes by this method, and many green- 

 house plants may be similarly propagated. 



EXERCISES 



1. Go out into an old orchard and dig away the soil from 

 the trunks of the apple trees until the place where the root 

 graft was made is disclosed to view. Note if there are any 

 places where the wound did not heal and thus allowed the 

 entry of disease-producing fungi. This will be shown by a 

 decayed area. 



2. Explain in detail the method of growing a Baldwin apple 

 tree from unknown seed. 



3. Make grafting wax according to the following directions: 

 Weigh out i part by weight of tallow, 2 parts of beeswax, and 

 4 parts of resin. Pulverize the resin, cut up the beeswax and 

 tallow and boil together slowly until all is entirely dissolved. 

 Pour the mass into a pail of cold water and after greasing the 

 hands, squeeze out all the water and pull like molasses candy 

 until the wax becomes light colored. Be careful not to pour 

 the hot mass into the water too quickly. The wax should be 

 pulled until it is cool and then rolled into lengths and wrapped 

 in paraffin paper until the next laboratory period. Grafting 

 cord for binding grafts may be prepared by putting a ball of 

 No. 1 8 knitting cotton into a kettle of melted grafting wax and 

 allowing it to become thoroughly saturated. 



