6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
Cooking Food—Scalding Hogs. 
Whether one cooks food or not, there are 
occasions on the farm, especially at “killing 
time,” when an apparatus for heating water 
is in demand. If the farmer finds that the 
boilers and cookers offered for sale are be¬ 
yond his means, he can contrive a substitute 
at a less expense. The engraving shows an 
apparatus that has stood- the test of several 
years’ actual use. It consists of a box two 
feet wide, eight feet long, and 18 to 28 inches 
deep, made of two-inch hard-wood plank. 
The bottom is of heavy sheet-iron, so nailed 
to the sides and ends that the box may be 
water tight. The box rests on walls of stone 
or brick, built high enough to give room for 
a fire underneath. A sheet-iron door is 
placed at the front of the fireplace, which 
is large enough to admit good-sized knots 
from the wood-pile. A chimney for the 
escape of the smoke is made from an old 
stove-pipe set at the rear end of the “boiler.” 
Earth is banked up against the outer sides of 
the walls, and should extend up above the 
bottom of the box, to prevent the escape of 
sparks and smoke. A close-fitting sliding door 
is placed in front, to be used in drawing off 
the contents of the box. A cover—an inch 
plank with edges bevelled to fit the sides of 
the box, and with a handle at each end— 
Should be provided. This arrangement, de¬ 
vised by the late S. H. Clay, of Kentucky, 
and brought to notice by T. D. Cobum, in his 
excellent “Swine Husbandry,” is given in 
answer to requests for a cheap apparatus of 
the kind. It serves for boiling corn, pump¬ 
kins, etc., for hogs and other stock. Such a 
boiler will be handy to heat water for scald¬ 
ing hogs, and many other uses upon the farm. 
How to Start an Orchard With Little 
Money. 
A settler upon a new farm is often obliged 
to defer planting an orchard for several years, 
as aside from other demands upon labor on 
fields, he can not just then afford to invest 
the necessary money in trees. There is a 
plan by which one may secure trees for an 
orchard which shall ultimately cost him 
nothing. To do this, he must be able to make 
a small outlay of money, give a little intelli¬ 
gent labor, and be willing to wait for a few 
years. This can be done by starting with 
Root-grafts. As few outside of nurseries 
know what these are, let us explain. We 
may let a seedling tree grow to be 6 or 10 feet 
high, cut it off where we wish the head to 
begin, and put in grafts of the kind we de¬ 
sire. All between the root and the grafts is 
of the seedling tree, and of no use except to 
support the top. Or we may cut the seedling 
off at the level of the ground, or just below 
it, and put the grafts in there ; the result will 
be the same in both cases, but in the last it 
will take the graft longer to 
grow and come into bearing. 
In making root-grafts, a 
seedling stock, about the 
size of a lead-pencil or a lit¬ 
tle larger, is cut off, at what 
nurserymen term the “col¬ 
lar ” (i. e., the point of union 
between root and stem) and 
a graft inserted. The small 
end of the root and matted 
fibres are cut off. The root- 
graft, when finished; is 
about 8 inches long, and ap¬ 
pears as in figure 1 ; it is 
really a cutting of a desira¬ 
ble variety to which is attach¬ 
ed a root of a seedling, of 
course of an unknown kind. 
The root-graft is planted so 
deep that but one bud is above the surface. 
The point of union being underground and 
moist, such grafts rarely fail. This kind of 
grafting is done in the winter ; the grafts are 
stored in boxes of earth in the cellar, and 
are in readiness to set out in spring. Some 
nurseries, especially at the West, advertise 
root-grafts and have them reg¬ 
ularly in their catalogues. They 
can be bought in large quanti¬ 
ties very low—usually less than 
$2 per hundred. If procured 
from a nursery of good reputa¬ 
tion, there should be no more 
risk as to accuracy in names than 
with regular trees. They are sent 
out packed in boxes with either 
sand or sawdust to prevent the 
roots from drying. As there may 
be some having seedling apple 
stocks, who would like to root- 
graft them, we will briefly show 
how it is done. Indeed if one 
chooses he can buy stocks and 
cions and graft them himself, 
though in a small way there 
would be scarcely any saving by 
so doing. The root, fig. 2, is cut off at the 
“ collar,” with an upward sloping cut, and 
the lower end removed, leaving the root 3 or 
4 inches long ; in the center 
of the slope, A, a cut is made 
downwards, as at B, to form 
the “ tongue.” The cion. fig. 
3, of the same size and about 
the same length, is cut with 
a slope downwards, A, and a 
similar tongue, B, made in 
the face of the slope. The 
two pieces are then locked 
together as in figure 4, the 
tongue of one in the slit of 
the other, taking care that 
the inner barks of the two 
come in contact as much as 
possible ; if the cion and stock * *£• ' A ‘ 
are unequal in size, then secure as complete 
a bark contact as may be on one side. (These 
three enj vings are from the “Fruit Gar¬ 
den,” by . Barry, the most complete and 
practical work on all that relates to the nur¬ 
A CONVENIENT WATER HEATER, AND COOKER. 
//'V \ 
Fig. 1. 
sery and orchard.) One with a sharp knife 
and some apple twigs of the right size, can 
learn in a very short time to make a neat and 
complete fit, and the rapidity will soon fol¬ 
low. This is called the “ whip graft,” and is 
perhaps the best for any grafting where both 
cion and stock are nearly the same size. The 
graft is finished by wrapping the joint with 
paper upon which grafting wax has been 
spread ; some tie the graft with cotton twine 
and brush the melted wax over the joint; 
others, still, use cotton twine that has been 
passed through the melted grafting wax. 
Some nurserymen, instead of “whip grafting” 
as above described, use the “ side 
graft.” Here the cion is cut to a 
slender wedge, and placed in a 
diagonal cut an inch or more long, 
the joint being covered as before. 
The method strikes us asdess suited 
to root-grafts that are to be trans¬ 
ported to a distance. The finished 
root-grafts are placed in boxes, 
their roots covered with damp sand 
or sawdust—properly labelled and 
kept in a cool cellar until spring. 
On a large scale one man prepares 
the grafts, another cuts the roots 
and inserts them, and a third waxes—sev¬ 
eral clamps and other contrivances being 
used to facilitate the work. A good-sized 
stock is often used for two or three cions, 
a practice condemned by some, who claim 
that one cion only should be inserted at the 
collar. Only the main, or tap-root of young 
seedlings should be employed; the use of 
side roots from old trees at one time brought 
root-grafts into disrepute, but properly done 
it is perfectly successful, and is now the 
general method of propagating the apple. 
The fact that it can be done in-doors during 
winter, is largely in its favor, and one may 
purchase root-grafts from a 
reputable nursery with con¬ 
fidence that they will grow 
into good trees. The ques¬ 
tion will be asked: “How 
soon will root-grafts make 
trees large enough to set 
out ?” That will depend 
somewhat upon the variety 
of apple, and also upon the 
cultivation; three years at 
least, and generally four 
years will be required to 
make a tree of proper size 
to plant in the orchard. 
The details of planting and 
after care will be given an¬ 
other month. We stated in 
the beginning that one’s 
trees might “ ultimately cost 
him nothing.” It will take 
but little more time to cul¬ 
tivate 1,000 trees than it will 
to care for 500. The trees at the end of four 
years will find a ready sale at many times the 
cost of the grafts, and should bring full nurs¬ 
ery prices on account of being at hand, and 
not having to run the risks of transporta¬ 
tion. If one can afford the moderate im¬ 
mediate outlay, this will, with fair care, be a 
profitable crop. If this care can not be given, 
then it should not be undertaken, as nothing 
is more unsalable than badly grown trees. 
Buying seedling stocks saves time. Any one 
can raise them by planting apple seeds in 
good soil in spring ; the majority of the seed¬ 
lings should be large enough by fall to graft. 
Fig. 3. 
