American Pomology. ApplesWarder, J. A. (John Aston)
Science
American Pomology. Apples
Warder, J. A. (John Aston)
Apples
No. 4, on 2d cut of root, not so good as the third.
No. 5, on average lot, not waxed, as good as any.
No. 6, roots worked upside-down, mostly failed.
D.O. Reeder exhibited some 2-year old apple trees, worked on the root
inverted, they were of very good growth.
For root grafting, thrifty stocks are wanted of one or two years'
growth, the smoother and straighter the roots, the better. These
should be taken up from the seed-bed in the fall, selected, tied in
bundles, and stored in the cellar or cave, or buried in the soil where
they shall be accessible at any time, and where they will be kept
fresh and plump. The roots and scions having been prepared and under
shelter, the work of grafting may proceed at any time during the
winter. The stocks, if not clean, should be washed, and one hand trims
off the side rootlets. The grafter cuts a hundred scions of the
appropriate length, which he puts into a shallow box on the table; he
takes up a stock, cuts the slope near the collar, and a dextrous hand
will at the same time make the sloping cut to receive the first graft
and also the tongue, if that style of grafting is to be done, as is
usually practised. He then picks up a scion, from a lot which himself
or another hand has already prepared with a slope and tongue, and
adapts it to the root, the tongue keeping the two together; a portion
of the root is then cut off with the graft, and the process is
repeated upon the next section. Two or three or more grafts, are thus
made from one seedling root; the length of the sections vary from two
to four inches, according to the fancy of the operator, or of his
employer. Some persons recommend a long scion with a short root, and
others prefer to reverse those terms. The whole root graft should not
be more than six or seven inches long.
When any given number of scions are fitted to the roots, a boy
completes the process of grafting, by applying melted wax with a
brush, in which case they are dropped into water to harden the wax, or
they are wrapped with waxed strips of muslin or paper, or, better
still, they are tied with waxed thread. No. 3 cotton yarn is drawn
through a pan of melted wax, and wound upon a reel placed at the other
side of the room, so that the wax may harden. This waxed thread is a
very convenient tie; the graft being held in the left hand, the thread
is wound about it two or three turns; as the wax causes the bandage
to adhere to itself where it crosses, no knot is needed, and the
thread is broken off with a quick jerk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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