114 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
trees by the roadside is pretty sure to be a genial 
sort of man, and a man whom his neighbors love. 
I hold, too, that it enhances the value of one’s 
property to have the street well shaded. 
This is my friend John Jones’ residence, and as 
I have the freedom of the place, let us go in and 
range through the grounds. These elms stand¬ 
ing like sentinels each side of the- gates, look to 
be forty or fifty years old, but they are not half 
that age. I saw them planted, and know that 
heir wonderful growth is owing chiefly to the 
good soil he has given their roots to ramble in. 
No, those are not “foreign trees.” The first is 
the Tulip-tree, and the other is the Cucumber- 
tree, or Magnolia, acuminata —both indigenous to 
this latitude. They are so seldom planted, I 
don’t wonder you thought them exotics. Can 
anything be more admirable for a lawn than 
these trees, with such clean, handsome bark, 
and such magnificent foliage 1 Better, certain¬ 
ly, than the abele, locust, and ailantus. Let us 
walk on and look at the other trees. Here are 
American, English, Irish, Scotch, and Dutch 
elms, all good. Yonder are maples, horse-chest¬ 
nuts, English lindens, Scotch larches, evergreens 
of all sorts ; how charming they all look, dres¬ 
sed in their fresh green coats ! I fancy Mr. 
Jones feels himself well paid for his labor, in 
the attractions of his home. His wife and 
children, too, how happy must they be to live 
in such a beautiful home ! Their friends in vi¬ 
siting them, and indeed all persons passing 
along the street, must say to themselves, Mr. 
Jones is a sensible man, a man of taste, and 
one who knows how to find happiness in the 
world, as he goes along. Success to Mr. Jones! 
Reader, let us break away from those happy 
June people, leaving them to stroll about a 
while longer in the shady grounds of Mr. Jones, 
while we go and plant trees in our own grounds 
and by the roadside, while it is yet April. 
-«5M--►-«.- 
Hints on Grafting. 
for grafting the cherry, following up with later 
growing varieties. The scions should be cut in 
the Tailor Winter, or even early in Spring before 
the buds have swollen, and be kept buried in sand 
or earth in the cellar, or a dry sand bank. They 
should always be of the previous year’s growth. 
For tools, provide a fine toothed saw, a grafting 
knife like the one here shown when it can be had, 
a sharp pruning knife, a mallet, and a wooden 
wedge, and have ready prepared some grafting 
wax or clay, as described below. Of the various 
grafting knives in use, the above which we have 
had engraved for the Agriculturist suits us best. 
Attached to the handle is the iron frame or back 
turned up near the end and terminating in a wedge 
an inch and-a-half in length. Riveted to this is 
the thin steel knife, some 3$- inches long, and 3 
inches wide, with a keen hollowed edge so that 
in splitting the limb the outer wood and bark are 
first cut by the curve of the blade, leaving a 
smooth, even edge. After splitting about two 
inches deep by a blow from the mallet—the back 
piece prevents the knife from going deeper— 
withdraw the knife and drive the wedge in the 
center, and insert the grafts upon each side as 
shown in fig. 3. 
There are several kinds of grafting, only two 
of which are here introduced as being the sim¬ 
plest and most commonly used. These are cleft 
grafting shown below, and splice grafting as seen 
in figs. 5 and 6. Cleft grafting is used upon the 
branches of large trees, and also upon stocks of 
seedlings one half inch or more in diameter. The 
limb or trunk should never be more than two 
Grafting is performed on fruit trees for two 
reasons—to change an inferior to a better varie¬ 
ty, and to hasten the fruiting of a young new seed¬ 
ling by inserting it into the upper branches of a 
tree already in bearing. It is also used to im¬ 
prove the appearance of both deciduous and ever¬ 
green shade trees, by engrafting upon a common 
or native stock a more ornamental, or a foreign 
variety of the same family. Most of the weep¬ 
ing trees now seen, with the exception of the wil¬ 
low, are ordinary stocks grafted with the weep¬ 
ing sorts at a point where it is desired they should 
droop. So also, many of the choice woody par¬ 
lor and green-house plants, which are not pro¬ 
duced true to kind from seed, are propagated by 
grafting them upon common roots or shoots of the 
same genus. Occasionally, several colors are en¬ 
grafted upon the same flowering shrub, which 
gives it a beautiful, variegated appearance when 
in bloom. 
But we propose now to speak chiefly of fruits, 
and give some plain instructions relative to graft¬ 
ing. We may here remark that, excepting in the 
case of the the pear upon the quince and some 
of the tender stone fruits upon the plum, cross¬ 
ing families is not advisable although the pear has 
occasionally been made to grow and sometimes 
bear upon the apple, mountain ash and thorn. 
The season for grafting is when the buds begin to 
swell in Spring, which, in this latitude, is from the 
middle of March to the last of April or later. Some 
varieties, such as the cherry, start very early, 
while the apple and quince are much later. In 
ordinary seasons we prefer the early part of April 
inches through—one inch is better—since in the 
large limbs the wound will require a long time to 
heal over. Having sawn off the branch, pare the 
Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. 
top of it with a sharp knife, for a smooth cut heals 
over more readily and firmly than a rough or jag¬ 
ged surface. 
Prepare the scions for insertion by scarfing them 
down to a thin edge as seen in fig. 3, making the 
cut smooth and true, and about one inch in 
length. These should be a little the thickest 
upon the outer edge so as to bring the bearing 
close to the bark where the union is to take 
place. The scions should only be shaved down 
as wanted for use that the cut be fresh. In length 
the shoots may contain two or three buds as seen 
in the figures—or when the variety is scarce, one 
bud will answer, leaving it near the top. 
The essential point in grafting is to have the in¬ 
ner bark of the stock in exact contact with that of the 
scion. 
The reason for this is, that the sap circulates 
up through the outer wood and down through the 
inner bark, and these two portions of both scion 
and stock must be in contact or there will be no 
circulation. The failure to appreciate this point, 
is the main defect with unskillful grafters. To 
secure this, the bottom of the scion is sometimes 
pushed out and the upper part crowded in so as to 
have the bark on the shoot and limb cross each 
other, to insure perfect contact at some point. 
Where the stock is sufficiently large two scions 
are inserted. If both grow one should be cutout 
the next season, or as soon as the wound is healed 
over. If the stoek is not large enough for two 
scions, shave off one side, as seen in fig. 4, to fa¬ 
cilitate the healing. 
Grafting Wax .—Having inserted the grafts as 
seen in the engravings, cover thoroughly with 
wax made of, say: two lbs. resin, one lb. bees¬ 
wax with tallow, or lard sufficient to leave it in a 
pliable state, and the whole is done. For a ce¬ 
ment, some prefer 6 lbs. resin, 1 lb. beeswax, and 
1 pint linseed oil. The essential thing is to have 
covering that can be worked into every crevice 
to effectually exclude air and moisture, and 
Fig. 5. Fig. 6. 
neither crack in cold weather nor melt in the sun. 
Many old grafters still prefer a mortar of one 
third clean fresh horse manure, and two thirds 
clay or clayey loam with a little hair, the whole 
worked over with a hoe, adding water until about 
like mason’s mortar. This is spread thickly on 
old rags and bound around the graft, tying with 
strings. The mortar should be pressed between 
the scions to leave no chance for air or rain to 
enter. It is more trouble to use the clay but the 
cost of preparing it is less. 
Fig. 5 represents a seedling stalk and scion of 
the same size which are cutobliquely for splicing 
together. The slopes should be from 1} to 1£ 
inches in length, and made to fit closely together. 
Jf the size varies a trifle, be sure that one side 
joins perfectly, which is sufficient. To strength¬ 
en the union and render success more certain an 
upward slit is sometimes made in the scion and 
a downward corresponding cut in the stock, funn¬ 
ing a sort of tongue in each, which, when pressed 
together appear as shown in fig. 6. This is called 
tongue grafting and is a very sure method of sav¬ 
ing choice scions but not applicable to large 
branches. After bringing the edges in an exact 
line bind with strips of cloth, about one half inch 
wide which has been coated with melted graft¬ 
ing wax. In winding, the edges of the cloth 
should overlap a little so as to cover every point. 
As the tree grows it bursts this bandage render¬ 
ing cutting unnecessary. Bass matting howev¬ 
er, is sometimes used, and the whole covered with 
grafting wax. 
Whatever the kind of grafting, care should oe 
taken to allow no superfluous shoots to rob the 
scion of its proper nourishment, viz., the sap ; and 
take every precaution to provide for its continu¬ 
ous free circulation between and through both stock 
and scion. 
