48 FIELD NOTES ON APPLE CULTURE. 
old style of grafting, and I think that in every case where 
the tree was fifteen years or more old, bad results have 
followed. In some cases trees have died. In others the 
grower wisely concluded not to sacrifice all the large and 
handsome branches which were not grafted, and the trees 
soon grew up thick again on the old stock, and the scions 
dwindled or perished. In other cases the whole top had 
Fig. 7.—GRAFTING KNIFE, 
to be grafted over again according to the newer methods. 
The kind of grafting most likely to be practiced in the 
orchard is that known ascleft grafting. The process is a 
simple one. In May, just as the leaves are pushing out 
vigorously, saw off the limb to be grafted where it is an 
inch or Jess in diameter; trim the edges of the ‘‘stub” 
smooth, and split it with a large knife, or a cleaver made 
Fig. 8.—GRAFTING MALLET. 
for the purpose. The best. implement for this purpose 
can be made from an old flat file by any blacksmith. 
Its shape is represented in figure 7. The curved cutting 
portion should span about five inches. The handiest 
mallet is made of a simple straight piece of hard wood, 
about fifteen inches long and hung over the wrist by a 
large loop of soft twine. This mallet is always in place 
for use and it is not dropping from the tree.- It is shown 
in figure 8. Split the “stubs” horizontally. If you 
