148 



GRAFTING. 



motion of the sap in some stocks, with the general mois- 

 ture of the air during midsummer, the operation would sel- 

 dom fail ; and the result fully proved this conclusion well 

 founded. It next occurred to me, that the walnut, fig, and 

 persimon, which will not succeed in the spring, except hy 

 mere chance, might now answer on the same principle of 

 reasoning : I accordingly made the experiment, and suc- 

 ceeded. 



" To make the success of summer' grafting certain, take the 

 twigs to be inserted from a tree in which the sap is, as near 

 as possible, stationary ; and select a stock in which the sap 

 has the greatest possible motion. July is the proper time 

 for summer-grafting, and indeed the most suitable month 

 of the twelve for that operation. However, the operation 

 may be performed, with tolerable success, during the remain- 

 der of the summer and fall months." 



8. Another mode of engrafting has been practised, and 

 we believe invented, by Col. J. F. Wingate, of Bath, in the 

 state of Maine. The process and its advantages are thus 

 described in a letter from Col. Wingate to Gen. H. A. S. 

 Dearborn : — " The instrument best adapted to the purpose, 

 and which I have generally made use of in the operation, 

 is a common budding-knife, the handle of which, being 

 smooth and thin, is well designed for separating the bark 

 from the wood of the stock ; and this is performed and the 

 scion inserted in the following manner, namely ; in the first 

 place, make a horizontal or transverse cut upon the stock 

 or limb to be engrafted, according to its size, from one half 

 to one and a half inch in length. Then at the left end 

 (this being the most convenient) make a perpendicular cut 

 downward, (through to the wood in both cases,) about the 

 same length; take a small chip from the bark just above 

 the horizontal line, or cut at the place where the scion is 

 to be fixed, deep enough to allow the lower or wedge paii 

 of it to meet and lay close to the inner bark or sap-wood 

 of the stock. Raise the bark as in budding, and separate 

 it sufficiently from the wood to receive the scion, which 

 should be gently pressed into the proper position, and there 

 secured by slips of bass mats, or some other soft material, 

 wound around the limb or stock so as to cover the lower 

 part of the scion, atul press upon the bark of the tree the 

 whole length of the perpendicular cut ; after v\^hich I have 

 ci^enerally rubbed on a thin coat of engrafting composition, 

 for the purpose of excluding the dew and rain. That which 

 I have found most durable and eiFectual for this purpose is 



