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JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
covered with some substance to exclude moisture and thereby prevent 
decay. Gum shellac dissolved in wood alcohol is found to be the best 
substance for this purpose, though white lead paint or grafting wax are 
both good. 
Generally speaking, summer pruning, of which a good deal is done, 
promotes fruitfulness ; winter pruning tends more to wood growth. 
Pruning in Nova Scotia is chiefly done at the end of winter, whilst snow 
is still on the ground ; when the trees are bursting into bloom is found to 
be a good time, though the opinion is that pruning may be done any 
time during winter without disadvantage to the trees, the discomfort 
being that of the man who prunes. 
In case of a tree being split at the forking of the branches, a hole is 
bored with an auger right through the tree at right angles to the split, 
and the parts are drawn together by an iron screw-bolt and nut with 
large heads ; this damages a tree less than binding together with a hoop 
of iron. 
On Mr. Ralph Eaton's farm (Kentville), in order to train the young 
tree to grow upright, in case of the trunk bending, a screw-hook is screwed 
into the tree, and by means of a wire attaching the hook to a peg in 
the ground (in some cases two wires and two pegs are used), the tree is 
drawn into the desired position ; these hook eyes and wires are also used 
to train the branches into correct position where necessary. 
Grafting and Re-geafting. 
Most of the fruit trees are purchased from nurseries in Ontario and 
the U.S.A., but some farmers raise apple and plum trees. The apple 
stocks are from seeds of cider or eating kinds, and not from the crab. 
They are root-grafted during winter, being kept in a cool cellar. The whip 
graft is bound together usually by knitting cotton or strips of calico 
which have been dipped in grafting wax ; by the spring the scion and 
root stock have partly united, and they are planted out. 
There is a tendency, by selection of the most suitable market kinds, to 
decrease the number of varieties ; consequently in spring there is a great 
deal of top-grafting done ; the cleft graft, with one or tvv'o scions according 
to the size of the branch, is the method usually employed. The grafting 
wax commonly used is made by heating together 2 lbs. resin, 1 lb. bees'- 
wax, ^2 lb. tallow, either applied warm with a brush, or made up into a 
ball and applied by the hand. Grease is rubbed on to the hands, to 
prevent the wax sticking to them. 
The Fertilising of Orchards, 
Rotation in the fertilisers applied to the orchard is recommended as 
advantageous, for example, cattle or horse manure one year, chemical 
fertihser another. Farmyard manure greatly benefits old, neglected 
orchards requiring nitrogen, but its use should be discontinued where 
trees run too much to wood and leaf, without fruit, and some manure 
containing potash and phosphate usually proves beneficial. Professor 
Shutt considers farmyard manure, as a fertihser for apple orchards. 
