THE CULTIVATOR. 
99 
exposed in heaps they will keep till spring: in which case they 
should be sown as early as the frost goes out of the ground. I have 
lost both apple and thorn sowings even when the seed was duly frost¬ 
ed for want of this precaution. 
I advocate the level cultivation. Weeds should not be suffered to 
grow to be pulled out by hand, but the earth frequently stirred and 
kept loose with a narrow hoe or rake. This saves time, as they can 
be gone over with much more expedition than when suffered to get 
foul, and that it promotes their growth must be obvious to all. if 
it be intended to graft or bu I them at the ground, this should be done 
when they are two years old. 
GRAFTING. 
The mode of grafting which I prefer, is technically called cleft 
grafting, and is that most commonly practised in nurseries and in top 
grafting also. As my practice has some peculiarities in its mode, I 
shall aim at a description of it. The stock may be cut off with an 
oblique cut; a vertical or perpendicular cleft is now to be made 
across the slope, and say an inch and a half deep, with a butcher 
knife, a new one is best that it may be sharp and thin, in order that 
the stock may be slit apart rather than cleft, which leaves it much 
smoother to receive the pen; which latter must now be cut in a per¬ 
pendicular direction in the form of a wedge ; the upper part of this 
wedge must be cut with a shoulder, but masmuch as it should be 
made with a single cut downward, on each side, with a common pen¬ 
knife ; the shoulder wall necessarily be of a bevel form, and some¬ 
what scolloping. The part to be inserted, however, should be two 
inclined planes, coming together to a point, and a little the thickest 
on the outside, and the slit may now be held open by pressing the 
thumb backward against the inside of the slope on the long side, 
and the pen may be pushed downward as far as the shoulder will 
permit, in such manner that the inner bark of the stock, and that of 
the scion may meet exactly together. If the stock does not hold the 
pen firmly, it may be tied with woollen yarn or bass shreds. The 
earth may now be drawn round the scion and pressed firmly about 
it. If the cement was applied according to Hopkins’ recommenda¬ 
tion, (see Cultivator, vol. iii. p. 39,) the success would probably be 
more certain ; and for top grafting, clay or cement of some kind is 
indispensable. McMahon says, “ the best time for grafting is just 
when the buds have swollen and are ready to burst,” and this ac¬ 
cords with my experience. 
BUDDING. 
I shall now proceed to the consideration of budding, and shall de¬ 
scribe a mode which I think a more expeditious one than any I have 
ever seen described in print. 
Take the scion of the kind intended to be propagated, make a 
transverse cut pretty close above the bud into the wood, about half 
way round the scion, then from each extremity of this cut let cuts 
be made obliquely, so as to come together about half an inch below 
the bud, and enclosing the bud in the form of an inverted cone.— 
Several may be done ready for use, and may readily be plucked off 
the scion, if it be in good order for budding, by taking a close hold 
of the footstalk of the leaf. Then fixing on a smooth part of the 
stock to be budded, make a horizontal cut quite through to the firm 
wood ; from the middle of this transverse cut make a slit downward, 
of a length to suit the bud, being careful not to cut too deep; then 
taking a bud from the twig, which has been previously cut round, 
and holding it in the left hand, proceed to separate the bark from the 
stock clean to the wood on each side, by thrusting the point of the 
knife into the edges of the bark within the slit, being careful not to 
wound the cambium beneath it. The bark being thus raised for the 
admission of the bud, slip it directly down until the top of the shield 
comes just below the first made transverse cut, and enters into its 
place. The whole may now be bound round with bass or woollen 
yarn, from the bottom of the slit to the footstalk of the leaf, and on 
it a little to press the bud close to the stalk. In three or four weeks 
the bandages may be removed. In the spring, at the rising of the 
sap, it may be headed down. The sprouts must be rubbed off until 
the bud starts. 
As a considerable time elapses after heading down before the bud 
starts, during which the exposure of the crown, and particularly when 
large, frequently occasions gangrene, very injurious to the tree. 
Hence I recommend that the stock be cut off, say a hands breadth 
above the bud ; these may be shortened in June, within an inch or 
less of the bud; let this not be neglected. If the stump be kept alive 
until the bud grows of a size large enough to keep up a free circula¬ 
tion of sap, all is safe, and the bud itself adheres in its new place with 
as much life as it grew on its parent twig, and when inserted on stocks 
not too large, and judiciously managed, makes a wound incompara¬ 
bly less than any other mode of grafting. The proper scions for ob¬ 
taining buds from, are the young thrifty shoots at the extremities of 
the branches of a young and thrifty tree. If the earth has been kept 
loose about it, so much the better. I here repeat your observation, 
that “both the stock and the scion should be in a state of active 
growth, and the more vigorous the better, when the process of bud¬ 
ding is performed.” The buds to be prepared are the most promi¬ 
nent ; small sunken buds are slow to vegetate. Let the twigs be 
divested of their leaves, but not of their leaf stocks. Whilst using 
keep them constantly moistened or immersed in water, at least their 
but ends. The operation may be performed very well with a pen¬ 
knife of the ordinary kind, the blade should be thin and keen and the 
point sharp. 
Apple trees may be budded from the 20th of June until the 20th 
of September; but I should judge from the 10th of August to the 
10th of September, the best time. 
I have now a lot of trees, some of which were grafted and some 
budded on» stocks of the same age and similar, on measuring them 
this day (28th ot June) a majority of the budded trees exceeded two 
feet, and some near three feet, and one over three feet—whereas, of 
the grafted, one alone come up to two feet. I have made similar ex¬ 
periments at different times, and those budded have almost invariably 
excelled. 
Some object to budded trees on the ground that they will not bear 
as early by two or three years, as grafted ones. If such be the fact, 
I should suspect the bearing to be premature, and might be occasion¬ 
ed by nursery transplanting, winter grafting, &c. Whereas, bud¬ 
ding to be successful, must necessarily be performed in fixed, and I 
may almost say, vigorous stocks. Premature bearing is the forerun¬ 
ner of premature decay. 
A few remarks on pruning and transplanting will close this part of 
the subject, but which, for want of time, I reserve for a future num¬ 
ber. SOLOMON PHILLIPS, Jr. 
Brownsville, Fayette Co., Pa., July, 1836. 
P. S. I would be gratified by seeing something in the Cultivator 
about the culture of peach trees. 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
THE SHEEP.—( Continued from page 87.) 
THE PROPERTIES OF WOOL. 
A consideration of the most important properties of wool, now ta¬ 
ken in a very general way, and to be hereafter applied to the diffe¬ 
rent breeds of sheep, cannot be better introduced than in the words 
of one to whom the agriculturist, whatever department of husbandry 
may chiefly occupy his attention, is much indebted. He is speak¬ 
ing of the size of the fibre, or the fineness or coarseness of wool. 
“Fine and coarse,” says he, “are but vague and general descrip¬ 
tions of wool; all fine fleeces have some coarse wool, and all coarse 
fleeces some fine. I shall endeavor, for the information of my read¬ 
ers, to distinguish the various qualities of wool in the order in which 
they are esteemed and preferred by the manufacturer. First, fine¬ 
ness with close ground, that is, thick-matted ground. Second, pure¬ 
ness. Third, straight-haired when broken by drawing. Fourth, 
elasticity, rising after compression in the hand. Fifth, staple not 
too long. Sixth, color. Seventh, what coarse is in it to be very 
coarse. Eighth, tenacity. Ninth, not much pitch-mark : but this is 
no other disadvantage than the loss of weight in scouring. 
“ The bad or disagreeable properties are—thin, grounded, toppy, 
curly-haired, and, if in a sorted state, little in it that is very fine; a 
tender staple, no elasticity, many dead white hairs, very yolky. 
Those who buy wool for combing and other light goods that do not 
want milling, wish to find length of staple, fineness of hair, white¬ 
ness, tenacity, pureness, elasticity, and not too many pitch-marks.” 
These supposed good and bad qualities will not be taken in the or¬ 
der here enumerated, for the propriety of some of them may admit 
of doubt; few, however, will be entirely omitted. 
FINENESS. 
That property which first attracts attention, and which is of great¬ 
er importance than any other, is the fineness of the pile—the "quan¬ 
tity of fine wool which a fleece yields, and the degree of that fine- 
