FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
93 
wedges six or eight inches long and of 
varying widths, a light hammer or mallet 
and, if working near the ground, a stiff 
brush. Of course, a pair of hand prun- 
ing-shears should always be in such a kit 
as well as a small whetstone. 
CLEFT-GRAFTING. 
Cleft-grafting is especially useful in 
working over trees or sprouts from the 
root or trunk of injured trees of larger 
size, that range from three-quarters of 
an inch to three inches in diameter. It 
is also a good means of working over 
large tops by grafting limbs, as is done 
with apple trees. Where sprouts or 
limbs are grafted a part only should be 
worked, and the rest left until the grafts 
have made a fair leaf surface. It may 
be necessary to lop them by cutting 
partly off and laying down, but don't 
cut them away until the sweet top can 
take care of the root. 
The stock or limb to be cleft-grafted 
is sawed off at a right angle to the course 
of the stock, shave the top smooth, then 
split it by driving the knife down into it 
through the middle, unless the stock is 
too large for this, in which case it can 
be split near one side or a saw cut can 
be made to receive the scion. The grain 
of many orange trees being quite 
crooked, it is sometimes well to drive the 
knife in at the side a little way before 
splitting the stock. This gives straight 
surface to hold the scion. Remove the 
knife and open the cleft with the wedge 
best suited to the size of the stock, al¬ 
lowing plenty of room on one or both 
sides for the sprig of buds. Now cut the 
scions to a wedge-shape that will fit the 
cleft, leaving the outer side a trifle the 
thickest, and with two buds above the 
cuts. Slip these firmly into place, so 
that the cambium layer (the soft layers 
just under the bark) of stock and scion 
may come in contact as much as possi¬ 
ble. If the scions are set at a slight 
angle with the stock, this contact is pret¬ 
ty sure to be obtained. Now withdraw 
the wedge, coat airtight with wax all cut 
surfaces, not forgetting the top of each 
scion, and the process is complete. This 
kind of grafting is especially successful 
in working kaki, pecans, grape and many 
other trees and vines at or below the 
surface of the ground. If well below, 
as is best with grape vines, no wax is 
needed. Banked with moist earth nearly 
to the top bud, after being tied with cot¬ 
ton twine to hold the parts firmly to¬ 
gether, they can be left without further 
attention, as the twine will rot off at the 
proper time. 
CROWN-GRAFTING. 
Crown-grafting is usually practiced 
with large stocks after the sap has be¬ 
come active in the spring, so the bark 
will slip easily. The tree is best cut off 
some inches under ground, the scion 
wedged by a long, slanting cut on one 
side, leaving two or three buds above, 
then pushed down under the bark at a 
point where its outline is concave. 
Were swelling or convex surfaces chosen 
the bark would crack and not hold the 
scion firmly. If the trunk is large, sev¬ 
eral of these grafts may be inserted so 
the top will spread from the ground. 
Moist earth is then packed to the scions, 
leaving only the top bud exposed. This 
method puts the junction of stock and 
graft, the weakest part, below the reach 
of cold, in trees too large to cleft-graft, 
so that if frozen to the ground they will 
