80 Grafting Wax and Bands. 
this State where the ground is apt to freeze it is necessary to 
keep scions in the cellar with their butts covered with moist 
sand, but over most of the area of the State nothing more is 
needed than to put down in the earth at the base of a tree or on 
the north side of a building, with, perhaps, a box or barrel in- 
verted over them to keep out mice and other intruders. Care 
must be taken not to let them dry up. If it is desirable for any 
reason to keep scions dormant long into the spring or summer, 
of course storage in a cool cellar is better, for in the open ground 
the scions will burst into leaf after a warm spell of spring 
weather. 
In selecting wood for scions, as for bud sticks, never take 
water shoots or suckers that start from the body of the tree and 
push up through the older branches, but always give the prefer- 
ence to sound, fully-matured wood, at the ends of the lower or 
nearly horizontal branches. Careful experiments have shown 
that trees grown from such scions are more likely to take on a 
low, spreading habit than those from the central or upper 
branches. The scions should be tied in bundles with a stout 
cord; and a piece of a shingle, with the name of the variety writ- 
ten plainly and deeply thereon, should be tied in with each bundle. 
Grafting Wax.—In grafting, a good grafting wax is requi- 
site. The ingredients are mixed in different proportions by dif- 
ferent growers. A few recipes which are known to give good 
results are as follows:— 
Two lbs. mutton tallow; 2 lbs. beeswax; 4 Ibs. resin. 
Two and one-fourth lbs. resin; 2 lbs. beeswax; 3 of a lb. tallow. 
One lb. mutton tallow; 2 lbs. beeswax; 4 Ibs. resin. 
Two lbs. resin; 2 lbs. beeswax; ¥ Ib. tallow, and a little linseed oil. 
Two lbs. resin; 1 lb. beeswax, 2% lbs. linseed oil; 4 tablespoonfuls 
turpentine. 
All these mixtures are made with the aid of gentle heat, 
and during grafting the wax must be kept warm enough to 
apply easily with a small brush. To do this the wax dish may 
be kept on a hot brick, to be changed for a fresh one as it cools, 
or, better still, is to heat the wax in an old fruit-can or some- 
thing of that kind, inside another, which is partly full of warm 
water. The wax should not be so hot as to run too easily, but 
just right to spread well. 
Grafting is greatly facilitated by the use of strips of waxed 
cloth or waxed paper, the latter being quite good enough for 
root grafts, which we are at present especially considering. 
This waxed paper is made by spreading a thin coat of wax, with 
a brush, upon tough, thin wrapping paper, cutting up the paper, 
when cold, with a sharp knife, on a board, into strips about an 
inch wide. \Waxed cloth is made by dipping cheap cotton cloth 
into hot wax, pulling the pieces between the edges of two boards 
