66 
House & Garden 
ECLIPSED- 
Though Awarded Gold Medals and High¬ 
est Honors wherever exhibited, out of and 
beyond competition, MAREAN 
DAHLIAS do not need this visible sign of 
man’s recognition of MERIT. 
Supreme creations of a sublime flower, 
they will be a monument to a man’s love for 
the Dahlia, when scores of now popular 
standards will be but a memory. 
Merely the SURPLUS of Judge Marean’s 
Private Collection is made available to 
amateurs, and exclusively through the 
House of Scheepers; a beautifully printed 
book, showing some of the magnificent flow¬ 
ers in natural colors and size, is ready for 
distribution amongst true Dahlia Hobbyists 
who desire the finest. 
May we hope to count you among those 
who, this coming season, will share the de¬ 
lights of exclusive Dahlia connoisseurs 
everywhere? 
JOHN SCHEEPERS, Inc, 
.522 FIFTH AVE. 
NEW YORK CITY 
Suckers from the base of the trunk grafted to weak branches to 
brace them, and lend added vigor to their growth 
Simple Surgery in the Orchard 
(Continued from page 64) 
crotch, and the strain of severe storms. 
If the limb is down, the thing that 
concerns us is whether to cut it off and 
make the tree one-sided, or try to save 
it by a bit of simple tree surgery. Cer¬ 
tainly, if a little of the bark is still 
adhering to the limb and the parent 
trunk at the base of the break, there 
are hopes of setting the broken arm and 
having it continue to grow and bear 
fruit. 
If you decide to save the limb, take 
a sharp chisel and cut away a little of 
the core wood so that the limb may be 
fitted back to the parent tree. The core 
wood should never be hollowed so that 
water might lodge in the cavity and 
cause decay. 
The next step is to prune back the 
tip of the broken branch, cutting away 
almost completely the young growth 
and pruning out small limbs wherever 
possible. This will help to insure the 
life of the limb by cutting down the 
demand for moisture and food as well 
as lightening it so that it may be han¬ 
dled more easily. 
All of this work should be done early 
in the spring, just about the time the 
sap begins to flow. Lift the limb into 
position slowly and brace it to the tree 
with wire. Use bits of rubber hose or 
auto tires to prevent the wire from cut¬ 
ting into the bark. If the limb is lifted 
into position when the bark is dry and 
there is much frost in the air, there is 
always a danger of severing this bark 
connection, which makes the saving of 
the limb almost impossible. A bolt with 
washers at each end may be used in 
young trees to hold the broken limb 
secure. 
After the limb is fastened in position 
and its bark and that on the trunk of 
the tree fit perfectly, you are ready to 
insert the scions or live braces. The 
twigs used for these should always be 
of the previous year’s growth and long 
enough to reach from the trunk about 
2" below the base of the break to the 
same distance above the wounded area. 
All eyes or buds of the scions must 
be carefully removed without injuring 
the bark. Then cut the scion wedge- 
shaped at both ends, preferably at the 
buds because more cambium or grow¬ 
ing tissue is exposed at these points. 
Make an incision in the bark, cutting 
through it and a little into the wood. 
Insert the wedge-shaped scion into these 
incisions so that the cambium tissue 
of the scion may come in direct con¬ 
tact with the cambium tissue of the 
parent tree and limb. Be sure that the 
scions are right end up, as they grew; 
otherwise they will dry up and die. 
A scion may be inserted every V / 2 " 
to 2" apart. It may be advisable to 
drive a fine brad into the scion at th 2 
point of connection in order to hold it 
firmly, but great care should be exer¬ 
cised to prevent injury of the bark with 
the hammer. 
The next and a most important step 
is to apply grafting wax at each point 
(Continued on page 70) 
Burlap is 
wrapped around 
the completed re¬ 
pair to prevent 
the scions being 
dried out by ex¬ 
posure' 
