1880.] 
45 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
the best animals, as well as to improve every 
method of working, enabling him to meet nearly 
every question and demand that may naturally arise. 
Keep the Good Calves. —As the cows come in, the 
best of the heifers may he selected for raising. 
There can be no better way to improve the stock 
of cows than to use a good bull and keep the best 
calves, well feeding and caring for them until 
matured. After these become cows a selection can 
again be made for breeding, and only the best re¬ 
tained. In a few years the value of dairy cows may 
be doubled by this careful practice of selection. 
Feeding and Care of Stock. —On this subject there 
is nothing to add to the hints given last month. 
Prof. Atwater’s articles on feeding (see page 61) 
should be studied until they are well understood. 
Vei-min. —The poultry house, if closely examined, 
may be found to swarm with lice. A gray mealy 
powder may be seen on the roosts, in crevices, and 
in the comers and joints of the building. Take a 
common squirt can tilled with kerosene oil and in¬ 
ject the oil into every crevice about the house. 
Repeat this process if it is found necessary, and very 
soon the fowls will be free from these insect pests. 
Young Chickens. —Early chickens which can be 
reared easily if proper care is given, may be kept 
in a glass covered coop protected at night by cover¬ 
ing with straw. If severe cold is feared, heat a 
couple of bricks hot in the oven, wrap them in a 
piece of carpet, and put them in the coop. A large 
can or jug of hot water is also a very good warmer. 
Fowh t will need the best food if eggs are desired. 
Wheat steeped in boiling water, and given hot, and 
hot baked potatoes crushed with a masher, are as 
good food as can be given ; water slightly warmed 
with a small quantity of Sulphate of Iron (copperas) 
in it, will be useful. Allspice mixed with corn- 
meal mush is an excellent coudiment, and by no 
means costly. Laudanum in 10 drop doses has been 
found a remedy for the cholera, or poultry intes¬ 
tinal fever, which has destroyed so many flocks. 
Geese and Bucks. —These are profitable birds in 
some cases, and may be kept where there is cheap 
grazing. Half a dozen geese will soon fill a good 
sized feather bed or a pair of pillows. The white 
ducks are perhaps equally useful in this way. Both 
of these will now begin to lay, but must be closely 
watched and kept up at nights or they will drop 
their eggs abroad. The eggs should be gathered 
and kept in a cool but not cold place until they 
are wanted for setting. A house suitable for geese 
or ducks is illustrated and described on page 60. 
Notes on Orchard and Garden Work. 
In the Northern Atlantic States the winter up to 
the beginning of the year has been an exceptionally 
mild one, though some localities have experienced 
the severity of which European gardeners and or- 
chardists are complaining. It would be better if 
we could have the weather continuously so cold 
that all vegetation would remain dormant, but that 
is beyond our control, and we can do but little to 
avoid or repair the damage caused by unseasonable 
prolonged mild weather, followed by severe cold. 
With the majority of hardy trees and shrubs, it 
makes but little difference how severe the winter, 
provided the cold comes on when vegetation is 
thoroughly dormant, but when a mild spell is suc¬ 
ceeded by a sudden cold snap, the effects are most 
disastrous, especially upon the more excitable trees, 
such as peaches arid cherries. When this occurs, 
and the blossom buds are fairly injured, nothing 
can be done to remedy the damage, and the best that 
one can do is to grow well formed trees during the 
coming season, in the hope that another winter may 
deal more kindly with them. To many of our read¬ 
ers spring begins with February, and it is every¬ 
where proverbially the “ short month,” hence the 
plans for the year should be fixed upon by this time, 
and the tools, seeds, plants, etc., should be ordered, 
that they may be on hand when wanted. Manure 
is an important matter to every cultivator, and none 
should go to waste for lack of sufficient absorbents, 
such as muck, leaves, cut litter, etc. Many who 
write us for information might find an answer to 
their queries did they look over the Notes in for¬ 
mer volumes, and given more in full than is practi¬ 
cable in an answer by letter. Of course this refers 
to those who have been our readers for some years. 
Orchard and Nursery. 
Renovating old Orchards is an important work at 
this season, and was treated somewhat at length in 
the January Notes, to which we refer the reader. 
Grafting. —If old trees produce poor or even in¬ 
different fruit, and they are still sound and vigor¬ 
ous, they may be made productive and valuable by 
grafting good sorts upon them. This work should 
be done just as the buds begin to swell. If the tree 
is a large one, only a portion of it should be graft- 
. ed the first season, beginning with the central part 
of the head. Great care should be taken that the 
grafts are of an excellent variety. It is a common 
notion among those who do not think about the 
matter, that the mere operation of grafting some¬ 
how benefits the tree. The grafted tree is in fact a 
new tree, all of the bearing parts of the old tree 
are cut away, and a new head is planted, so to speak, 
upon the old one. Hence the new top or head will 
be of the kind that is placed there, and unless good 
kinds are selected, grafting will be useless. 
Grafting is planting a cutting in another tree in¬ 
stead of in the soil. When we plant a cutting in 
the soil, it forms roots of its own, and the tree will 
be all of one kind. When we graft, the cutting 
unites with a tree already having roots, and the top, 
which grows from the tree, will be of one kind, and 
the lower part of the tree will be of another. 
Who can Graft ? —There are men who go about 
the country doing grafting, some are very excellent 
and others are bunglers, but there is no need of em¬ 
ploying any one. Any boy who can make a willow 
whistle can learn to graft, and every boy should be 
able to do it. We gave a full account of several 
kinds of grafting in May, 1869, and of other kinds 
in April, 1877, which numbers may be referred to. 
To answer a number of inquiries, we give here a 
few brief directions for cleft grafting, which is the 
easiest kind of grafting, and the one most generally 
practised, though it is by no means the best. 
Getting Readg. —If cions are not already cut, lose 
no time in getting them. They may be bought at 
most nurseries. If you cut them yourself, be sure 
that the tree from which they are taken is of the 
right bind. Cut twigs of last season’s growth only, 
a foot or less long; if cutting more than one kind, 
tie up one sort and mark it before beginning with 
another. Tie the cions in bundles, with their lower 
ends even, attach a label to them, or cut numbers 
on one of the cions in the parcel, to correspond 
with a list, lay them in a box, with damp saw¬ 
dust or damp moss all around and over them, and 
keep in a cool place until wanted. If sawdust or 
moss is not at hand, set the cion in a box of 
slightly damp earth, covering their lower ends well. 
Implements. —A fine saw will be needed ; a regular 
pruning saw is best, but any other will answer if it 
has rather fine teeth with a wide set. Two good 
knives, one very strong and heavy, the other 
smaller, and made and kept very sharp. A hard¬ 
wood wedge made of a stick of hickory about 6 
inches long and half an inch or so thick ; form at 
one end this wedge, beginning at two inches from 
the end and working it down to a point. A small 
mallet will be needed—a billet of wood will do. 
Other Matters. —Grafting wax will be wanted ; it 
may be bought, but it is easily made ; melt together 
in any old iron vessel: Bees-wax, 6 oz., Rosin and 
Tallow 4 oz. each, over a moderate fire, stir gradu¬ 
ally until all is melted. Take from the fire, and as 
soon as it begins to harden at the edges, stir until 
no longer liquid. Get some very old cotton stuff 
made thin by wear and washing; an old sheet, pil¬ 
low case, or calico dress, whatever will tear in 
either direction with great ease ; tear this into 
strips one or two inches wide and as long as the 
material will make ; wind the strips upon a stick, 
as shown in figure 1. As one strip is wound on, 
put on another, putting its end under the end of 
the strip already wound, as seen in figure 1; remove 
all threads or ravelings in winding ; when enough 
is wound to make the roll about 2 inches thick, tie 
it with a bit of thread and make another if needed ; 
provide a wire at the other end of the stick to hang 
it by. Melt the grafting wax again, making it 
pretty hot, put in the rolls one at a time; when 
thoroughly penetrated by the melted wax, take out, 
let it drip until the wax no longer runs from it, and 
hang it where a few drops of wax may be caught 
by a paper. Treat the other rolls the same. When 
cool, put away from the dust. Now you are ready 
To Graft. —When the buds begin to swell, put the 
above named things ; saw, knives, wedge, malletj a 
A 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 
roll of waxed cloth and the cions into a basket; be¬ 
sides these there wiil be needed a small box or cup 
of lard, and rags to wipe the hands upon. It is 
well to furnish the handle of the basket with a 
hook to hang it by. A step-ladder is likely to be 
useful. Having determined upon the place for 
the graft, saw off the branch, selecting a smooth 
place free from small branches; with the large 
knife smooth the cut surface, place the knife across 
the end and strike it gently with the mallet, to 
make a cleft as shown in figure 2, leaving the knife 
in. Now take a cion, and, with the small knife cut 
it to a smooth wedge, beginning near a bud, as seen 
in figure 3, the small piece, B, at the side, shows 
the shape of the wedge, which should be slightly 
thicker at one side than the other. Now the cion 
is ready to put in its place. If the branch to be 
grafted is small, but one cion is put in; the place 
will heal better if half the branch is cut away, as 
shown in figure 4. By prying the cleft open with 
Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. 
the point of the knife, the cion is put carefully into 
the cleft, the lower bud on it coming just at the 
cleft, as seen in figure 4 ,A. Here is the nice point; 
success depends upon having the inner bark of the 
stock and that of the cion touch as much as possi-> 
ble. Having the graft in place, all the cut por¬ 
tions are to be waxed, as will be described below. 
Two Grafts are put in if the branch is over an 
inch through ; all goes as before except two cions 
