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THE NURSERY-MANUAL 



the new tissue. In the meantime, the wound should be pro- 

 tected by a dressing, a wax or paint, to prevent decay. In 

 cleft-grafts, the surfaces should be covered with wax every 

 year until they are closed over by the new tissue. In most 

 cases the wax will loosen the first season, and sometimes it 



falls off. 



The character of the healing 

 process is well depicted in Figs. 

 181, 182, 183. In Fig. 181 is 

 shown a yearling cleft-graft of 

 apple. The strip of wax along the 

 side of the cleft is seen to have split 

 with the enlargement of the branch, 

 and the cleft has filled 

 up with tissue and is 

 now safe from infection 

 of disease or rot. The 

 roll of healing tissue on 

 the end of the stub is 

 seen about the border 

 of the wound. This 

 tissue has not yet covered the cleft across the end of the stub, 

 and this cleft, if exposed to the weather, is a fertile place for the 

 starting of decay, for the cleft does not unite except along the 

 sides of the stub beneath the bark. When this stub is split 

 lengthwise, following down the cleft, we may readily distin- 

 guish the location of the healing tissues, Fig. 182. The lower 

 ends of the cions are at E, and they are now inactive and nearly 

 lifeless bits of wood. The new or healing tissue has been built 

 up on the outward side of the cions. On the left, this deposition 

 of new tissue may be traced as far down as H, while it is thick 

 and heavy at E and above. The whole interior part of the stub, 

 represented by the dark shading, is dead tissue, which will 

 soon begin to decay unless it is well protected from the weather. 



FIG. 181. Cleft-graft a 

 year after setting (x ). 



