8 GRAFTING. 



season for grafting: where there is a great 

 quantity to do it is necessary to begin as early 

 as the season will admit ; and as apples are not 

 so early as cherries, plums, or pears, (where 

 you have these to graft) your apples must wait 

 till they are done ; but if you can begin your 

 apples about the middle of March, and finish 

 by the second week in April, it is very rare 

 that it is too late for apples, for I have grafted 

 apples with success in the last week in April, 

 when the stocks have been out in full leaf; 

 but this is a dangerous practice, for if the wea- 

 ther sets in very dry, it will so dry up the juices 

 of the stocks that many cannot be expected to 

 grow, and what do will be very weak, and 

 scarcely ever make handsome standards. 



In the next place must be got ready the 

 scions or cuttings, which should be of one 

 year's growth, and as firm and strong as you 

 can get them, so that they are not too large 

 for the stocks ; for although weak cuttings will 

 grow they will not make near the growth as 

 the strong cuttings, neither will they bear a 

 dry harsh spring so well. Now we proceed 

 to grafting. In the first place you cut down 

 your stocks within four or five inches from the 

 ground, which in large nurseries is done by a 

 man before the grafter. After the grafter a 



