412 THE APPLE 



Time to graft. The trees may be grafted any time in the 

 spring before the sap begins to flow. It is generally performed 

 about the time the trees are pruned in the spring. If the trees 

 are not grafted at this time and the scions are kept dormant in 

 some cool place, such as an ice house, the grafting may be success- 

 fully done later in the spring when the cutting will not result 

 in serious bleeding. 



The most important factor in top-working large trees is the 

 selection of the branches to form the top. Scions when grafted 

 on horizontal branches, instead of continuing to grow in the direc- 

 tion of the original branch, always grow upward. This tends to 

 produce a narrow, high-topped tree. Great care should be exer- 

 cised, therefore, in selecting branches well away from the trunk and 

 covering all the fruit-bearing surface of the tree. Scions seem to 

 grow more successfully on branches which do not exceed 1 1 inches 

 in diameter at the point of grafting. In top-working an old tree, 

 about a third of the branches that are to be grafted should be 

 worked each year, as the cutting of more in a single season would 

 prove injurious to the tree. It will therefore take from three to 

 five years to renew the entire top. Where the fruit-bearing surface 

 is large, this will often necessitate the making of from 10 to 

 20 grafts each season for three successive years. All the im- 

 portant branches should be grafted, and it is safer to graft too 

 many branches and be obliged to cut out a few in later years than 

 not to graft enough. 



Other forms of grafting. Many other forms of grafting apple 

 trees are in use, but they are by no means as common as the 

 foregoing. A mastery of the three systems described above is all 

 that is necessary for successful and practical work. 



Grafting wax. A good grafting wax is made from the following 

 formula : 4 pounds resin, 2 pounds beeswax, 1 pound beef tallow. 



Pulverize the resin and cut up the beeswax and tallow. Boil 

 together slowly until all are entirely dissolved. Pour this into 

 a pail of cold water, and after greasing the hands, squeeze all the 

 water out of the wax and pull, as one would molasses candy, until 

 the wax becomes light colored. If wrapped in oilpaper, this may 

 be stored until needed. In cold weather, when the wax is hard 

 to work, it should be slightly heated before using. 



