91 



Two parts of beeswax and one of resin are melted over the fire, 

 and calico or strong rnuslin is dipped into it. When the cloth is 

 saturated, all the surperfluous hot wax is scraped off before the 

 cloth cools. This is done by drawing and squeezing the cloth 

 between two sticks, or between the melting pot and a stick. The 

 cloth is then spread out to cool, after which it is torn, when required 

 for use, into strips of one-quarter to one-half inch wide, and 10 to 

 12 inches long. 



Some people roll old calico or thin muslin on a stick, and place 

 it in melted wax. When saturated it is allowed to cool by being 

 unrolled on a bench. It is then cut into strips to suit. 



Tie Bands. The best of all ties is Raphia fibre, the cuticle of 

 the leaves of the Raphia palm, which grows on low, swampy lands 

 in Madagascar. It is damped before using, and does not cut the 

 bark, on which it lies flat. 



For tying grafts buried underground, Raphia should be steeped 

 in a solution of sulphate of copper, which makes it more resistant 

 to rot. This fibre is sold in bundles by all seedsmen. 



Affinity of Stock and Scion. 



The closer related the plants put together the more perfect the 

 graft. This rule, however, is not without exceptions ; this may be 

 due to the fact that the various systems of classification of plants, 

 although acceptable enough, are more or less artificial and conven- 

 tional. For this reason it is not always possible to state with 

 certainty when the degree of relationship is such that grafting either 

 becomes permissible or is of no avail. In fact, numerous examples 

 are on record of successful grafts having been effected on plants 

 apparently wide apart in a botanical sense, and of unsuccessful 

 grafts between plants very closely related. Thus from the Cornell 

 University experimental station we hear of grafts of tomatoes upon 

 potatoes and potatoes upon tomatoes, growing well and fruiting (two 

 solanacese of different species). The tomato on potato plant bore 

 good tomatoes above and good potatoes beneath, even though no 

 sprouts from the potato stock were allowed to grow. 



On the other hand, apple and pear trees, which botanists classify 

 close together under the genu&Pyrus on account of their resemblance, 

 do not graft successfully when the apple is worked on the pear, and 

 only unite indifferently when the pear is worked on the apple. That 

 same pear, however, worked on the quince, which belongs to a 

 different genus (Cydonia) in the botanical classification, unites 

 without trouble. 



A striking anomaly in the behaviour of two plants of the like 

 genus, or of genuses closely related, grafted together, when the one 

 is deciduous and the other evergreen, is that an evergreen scion will 

 establish itself on a deciduous stock, but a deciduous scion never 

 takes on an evergreen stock. The loquat, an evergreen, can be 

 worked on the quince, a deciduous tree, although the reverse is not 

 attended with success. 



