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Show NEWS C? GRCHAITD HOW TOP-GRAFTING IS DONE New Growth Should Be Used and Scions Should Be Taken From Most Vigorous Trees, For many years I lived in the western west-ern part of New York state and every spring spent a large part of my time in tree surgery. Top-working seedling seed-ling apple trees 'became my job in the community. By long experience I developed methods of my own until the grafts lost did not except 5 pet-cent, pet-cent, and often not more than 1 per cent. Right now is the time to cut apple scions if tin's has not been done yet, writes H. Wallis Smith in Farmers' Farm-ers' Mail and Breeze. The best scions are obtained from the ends of bearing bear-ing branches. New growth should be used and the scions should he taken from vigorous trees where the one and two-year-old growth has reached a size of one-eighih inch in diameter up to the size of a lead pencil. Water sprouts are worthless as scions. Scions must be cut before the buds swell and should be tagged and packed in moist sand or earth and kept In the cellar. Cuttings from quickly growing varieties will do best. As soon as enough sap has started so Ihe Jill 1 Fig. 1 shows the scion properly cut. Fij. 2 is the stock ready for the ccion. bark will peel, it is time to do top-grafting. top-grafting. 1 never graft a branch that is more than one and one-half inches in diameter. I take the branch to be cut in my left hand and with a sharp, fine-tooth saw, cut it off below my hand." I do not let it fall or sway until un-til cut off entirely as this will split the bark or wood of the stub, damaging damag-ing it for grafting. I cut a branch here and another there, being careful not to get them too close together. I take two or three years to work over a large tree. A tree should not be pruned severely the same year it is. grafted. When all branches on a tree are cut I prepare the scions by making a slanting cut on one side only, leaving two good buds. A sharp, tbin-bladed knife must be used for this purpose. I An Incision is then made in the bark of the stub and the bark turned up at the corners as shown in Fig. 2. I then wet the cut end of the scion In my mouth and slip it down under the bark of the stub, the cut side of the scion on the inside, until the bark begins be-gins to split at the bottom of the incision. in-cision. I put two scions on each stub, then wrap some twine about the graft (Fig. 3) to keep the corners of the bark from curling outward as they dry. The wax is applied as soon as six or eight grafts are made. This wax is made up as follows: lz pint raw linseed oil Vs pounds rosin. 1 pound beeswax. This Is melted up together and put into two tin cans with wire bales, the outer ends of which are bent in the form of hooks as shown in Fig. 4. I next lake a length of stovepipe, put a hale in one end, fit wooden boiiom in the other, and nail It on well. A small hand lamp Is set Into the pi pe and the can of wax suspended above it by means of the hooks. This keeps the wax warm and of the right con- it IS1 7-1 " Fig. 3 shows the stock with scions in place ready for the wax. Fig. 4 is the device for heating the wax. sistency to apply to the grafts. Cold wax will not stick. I apply the wax with a cheap paint brush to six or eight grafts at a time. While the next batch of grafts are being made the other can of wax is getting warm. Hot wax too warm fsr the hand should not be used. Put on several coats and cover the entire stub fo an Inch below the split in the bark. The grafts should be examined about once a week. As soon as they begin to grow tiie gap in the bark will spread and the wax may crack, letting in the air. which may mean the death of your graft. If any cracks show, close the wax over them with your fingers. About July 1 cut the twine ami you are through with the grafts. Keep all water sprouts cut out. I never split the stub and put scions In the cleft as is commonly dune. I believe my method Is twice as ce:-t;M!i of In !:il- successful. If the v,::x shouid cr:'ck at any t!i;o n rts to let tiie nir p.rd water i;i- t!iC cleft before tV wemrt is 1 : Vd. 1' will r;'::-.' fN' ic-r" t-" ri- c y ; : "d'.' |