100 



Implements, etc. 



against a limb, which is separated by the stroke of a mallet. Small 



shoots are removed by the 

 hooked part, shown in Fig. 



Fi x 



The budding-knife, Fig. 

 132, should have a broad, 

 flat blade, the edge of 

 which is to be rounded outwards, for the more ready incision of the 

 bark. The thin ivory blade or haft at the extremity of the handle, 

 as the budding-knife is commonly made, may be dispensed with in 



Fig. 133- 



Fig. 132. 



nearly all cases, the bud when set in, lifting the bark as it slides 

 downwards, more perfectly than by any other mode, after the cor- 

 ners of the bark are lifted with the point of the blade. 



The grafting-tool (Fig. 133) is useful in cleft-grafting large apple- 

 trees. It may be made of 

 iron, the edge set with 

 steel. It is used for split- 

 ting the stock, after it is 

 sawed off and pared. The 

 part A should be two inches broad, with a sharp edge, which should 

 curve inwards, that the bark, in splitting, may be cut first, to give 

 it a smooth flat face. The wedge B opens the stock 

 to receive the graft. By the hook C it is hung on 

 a twig close at hand, when not in use. Another 

 form of the grafting-tool is shown in Fig. 134. 

 Grafting wedges for common use may be made by 

 grinding down large cut nails. 



The grafting-shears, a recent invention, have 

 effected a great improvement in cleft-grafting, ren- 

 dering the work much more expeditious and per- 

 fect They consist of a short thin blade of the best 

 steel, A, Fig. 135, two or three inches long, set at 

 an angle of about a hundred and twenty degrees 

 with the handle B, which moves it against a concave 

 Fig. 134 bed in the wooden space, C. The angle which the 



