6 



Grafting Fruit Trees. 



[APRIL, 



and the stock is not too wide it soon grows over the cut, and in 

 a few years completely covers it. 



In neither of these forms of saddles should the graft be split 

 when preparing it, else when placed across the stock the split 

 may run further up. 



Crown or Rind Grafting. — This (Fig. 4) is the simplest of 

 all, and mostly used on big branches of possibly oldish trees. The 

 branches should be sawn off some few weeks before grafting time, 

 and a few inches higher up than where they are to be grafted, 



Fig. 4.— Crown or Rind Grafting. 



to be cut off again just before the grafts are put on. Pare over 

 the saw cut with a knife, then the bark soon heals over. If the 

 branch is growing upright a slightly sloping cut must be made 

 to allow water to run off. 



Make a slit through the bark, and make it part from the wood 

 either by twisting the knife or with a bit of bone or hard wood 

 about the size of the graft. Cut a slice about two inches long off 

 one side of the graft, the upper end of the cut being opposite 

 a bud and the bottom cut away to nothing ; then slide the graft 

 between the bark and the wood. By cutting a thin, bit of bark 

 off each side of the slit, it will return to its place next the wood. 

 Several grafts can be put on in this way, each one being cut so 

 that the leading buds point in opposite directions to grow away 

 from each other. In all methods the grafts should be cut in 

 such a way as to have a bud near the " collar " of the stock, 



