116 NUT GROWING 



Before the days of employment of paraffin in 

 grafting work it was best to protect scions from the 

 sun and wind for a few days after they had been 

 set. For that purpose nothing was better than cheap 

 white paper sacks to be found at the grocer's. A 

 hole for ventilation was torn in the top of the paper 

 after the sack had been tied over a scion. When the 

 buds were unfolding nicely the paper protection was 

 removed. This detail may now be done away with 

 in the latitude of New York. Wind cannot dry out 

 a paraffined scion. The sun on a very hot day will 

 soften the paraffin but not to the point of causing it 

 to run away. A little stearic acid added to the 

 parowax will harden it as it hardens candles. Stearic 

 acid may be obtained at any drug store. 



When there is a very vigorous growth of shoots 

 after either cleft grafting or bark grafting it is very 

 important to fasten laths or other bracing sticks to 

 the stock and shoot so securely that the wind cannot 

 blow these new shoots out. The single advantage of 

 the cleft graft over the bark slot graft consists in 

 having a firmer hold for the growing scion. I have 

 known the better part of a season's grafting work 

 to be ruined in two minutes of a wind squall before 

 an approaching thunderstorm in August. Some of 

 the new shoots were blown entirely out, others hung 

 loosely from the stocks and the ones which remained 

 in place had the granulation area at the junction with 

 the stock seriously wrenched. For grafted saplings 

 a light stick may be tied to the stock and to the 

 growing shoot for bracing purposes, but for top- 



