126 



GRAFTAGE. 



gangs, — one to do the cutting of the stubs, one to set the 

 cions, and one to apply the wax. The cions are all whit- 

 tled Ijefore the grafter enters the tree. They are then usu- 

 ally moistened by dipping into a pail of water, and are 

 carried in a high side-pocket in the jacl^et. The handiest 

 mallet is a simple club or billy, a foot and half long, hung 

 over the wrist by a loose soft cord (Fig. 130). This is 

 brought into the palm of the hand by a swinging motion of 

 the forearm. This mallet is always in place, never drops 

 from the tree, and is not in the way. 

 The knife shown in Fig. 120 is com- 

 ■ monly used. A downward stroke of 

 the mallet drives the knife into the 

 tree, and the return upward motion 

 strikes the knife on the outer end 

 and removes it. Another downward motion 

 drives in the wedge. The sharpened nails 

 and sticks commonly pictured as wedges in 

 cleft-grafting are useless for any serious 

 work. The common style of grafting-knife 

 sold by seedsmen, comprising a thin, broad 

 blade set in a hea\-y back-piece, is also of 

 little use. The blade is too thin to split the 

 stub. The various combined implements 

 which have been devised to facilitate cleft- 

 grafting are usually impracticable in commercial grafting. 



It is very important that the cleft-graft should be kept 

 constantly sealed up until all tlie wounded surfaces are com- 

 pletely covered witli the healing tissue. Old wood never 

 heals. Its power of growth is completed. If a limb of an 

 apple tree a half inch or more in diameter is cut off, the 

 heart or core of the wound will be found to be incapaljle of 

 healing itself It is covered over by the callus tissue which 

 rolls in from the cambium underneath the bark. The 

 wound becomes hermetically sealed by the new tissue. In 

 the meantime, the wound should be kept antiseptic by some 

 dressing, like wa.\ or paint, to prevent decay. In cleft- 



130. Grafting- 

 mallet (Xl-io). 



