"A skillful grafter, by following the above-described method, will make grafts most of which will hold together very firmly. Many of them would be displaced, however, in subsequent operations, so that it is necessary to tie them. This is done with raffia or waxed string. The only object of the tying is to keep the stock and scion together until they unite by the growth of their own tissues, so that the less material used the better, provided this object is attained. For the formation of healing tissue air is necessary, so that clay, wax, tinfoil or anything that would exclude the air should not be used. The tying material is passed twice around the point of the scion to hold it down firmly, and then with one or two wide spirals it is carried to the point of the stock, which is fastened firmly with two more turns and the end of the string passed under the last turn. The less string is used the more easily it is removed later in the nursery. "Untreated raffia should be used for late grafts which are to be planted directly out in the nursery, but if the grafts are to be placed first in a callusing bed it is best to bluestone the raffia in order to prevent rotting before the grafts are planted. This is done by steeping the bundles of raffia in a three per cent solution of bluestone for a few hours and then hanging them up to dry. Before using, the raffia should be washed quickly in a stream of water in order to remove the bluestone which has crystallized on the outside and which might corrode the graft. "Some grafters prefer waxed string for grafting. The string should be strong enough to hold the graft, but thin enough to be broken by hand. No. 18 knitting cotton is a good size. It is waxed by soaking the balls in melted grafting wax for several hours. The string will absorb the wax, and may then be placed on one side until needed. A good wax for this purpose is made by melting together one part of tallow, two parts of beeswax, and three parts of rosin." _Wire grafting._ "The merits claimed for this method are that it is more rapid, requires less skill, and does away with the troublesome tying and still more troublesome removal of the tying material. Practiced grafters can obtain as large a percentage of No. 1 unions by this method as by any other, and unpracticed grafters can do almost as well as practiced. Another advantage of the method is that the scions have less tendency to make roots than with the tongue graft. "It consists essentially of the use of a short piece of galvanized iron wire inserted in the pith of stock and scion for the purpose of holding them together, thus replacing both tongues and raffia. It has been objected that the iron would have a deleterious effect on the tissues of the graft, corroding them, or causing them to decay. There seems, however, no reason to expect any such result, and vines grafted in this way have been bearing for years without showing any such effect.