with the graft-wedge to be inserted in the opening which it prepares. It is intended exclusively for crown grafting, which see, and may be of steel, or bone, or hard wood; or may be made on the spur of the occasion from a green scion. It may have a pocket-case, or simply a loop by which it may be hung upon a twig or button. A goldsmith's burnisher of suitable size, costing twenty-five to fifty cents, may be used as a substitute if desired.

GRAFTING TOOL.
Fig. 99.

The grafting tool, as shown in Fig. 99, is formed of a small bar of steel from twelve to fifteen inches long, half an inch wide, and rather over a quarter of an inch thick, one end being drawn so as to make it a little lighter than the other. A short wedge is formed upon each end for use in opening the cleft while inserting the graft; that at the heavier end is abruptly bent backward at a right angle to the knife, the lighter end being curved in the opposite direction sufficiently to allow of the tool being hung over a branch by it. The knife, which is formed simply by forging out the bar near its heavy end to about two inches width, may be made larger or smaller, but four inches may be regarded as a good size, the edge having a curve equal to the sweep of an eight-inch circle. It should be forged thicker at the middle than the ends, making both its sides slightly and equally convex. The back of it should be beveled to about half of its full thickness, so that its battered edges, after much use, may not tear the crown of the stock when driven into it.

This is a perfectly satisfactory instrument for use among large stocks and limbs, if they are split at all, but for such the simpler process of crown grafting with the use of the stiletto is greatly preferable. See page 233.

The stock splitter, Fig. 100, is formed of a stout wooden handle and grooved head-piece (a), the latter either a simple extension of the former or set at a more or less obtuse angle to it, combined upon an iron pivot with an iron handle of the same length, terminated by a knife of pretty thin steel (b), which works directly toward, but does not touch the inner face of the groove.

The edge of the knife should be gradually curved backward, and perhaps the addition of a small slide in the joint would farther improve it. In working this implement the wooden groove is placed against the back of the stock so far down as the operator may desire to extend the cut, and the cleft is made in an instant by pressure upon the outer end of the iron handle. It is sometimes used at the same time for heading down the stocks, but this is of doubtful expediency, in view of the importance of keeping its edge in fine order.

LABELS.

BAND LABELS.

Labels may be made with small pieces of pine, about one third of an inch thick, or like the thick end of a good shingle. A small block of straight-grained pine, four inches square and an inch thick, will make a dozen of them; and if a small hole be first bored through it, about half an inch from the end, each label, as it is split off, will be ready for wiring (101 a); or, if preferred, the boring may be omitted, and each may be notched and the wire twisted round it (101 b). These should be smoothed at least on one side, and painted with white lead. Upon this the name or number should be written legibly with

a rather soft pencil, and the label be then fastened to the tree with copper wire, about No. 18, or lead wire of a little larger size, being careful not to set the wire tightly upon the tree, but making allowance for growth.

Metallic labels may be made of zinc, or lead, or tin, which may be punched and wired to the tree, as 101 c. If zinc is used, it may be written on with the following mixture: Take two drachms of sal ammoniac, two drachms of verdigris, one drachm of lampblack, and two and a half ounces of water; mix carefully in a mortar with a small portion of the water, then add the rest and bottle it. Keep it well corked and sealed when not wanted, and shake it well before using it. Whatever metal is used, however, it is much better to stamp the name or number upon it with a punch. A set of letters and numbers, of steel, may be bought for three or four dollars, which will last a lifetime; or cast brass, or pot metal, or iron letters and numbers, which will punch the labels almost as well, may be obtained at a cheaper rate. If lead, or even tin, is used, common cast-off type from the printers will punch it satisfactorily, though for the latter brass or steel types are better.

A single line drawn upon the metal will enable any one to keep the letters in a proper position, and when finished, the strip can be flattened again with a wooden mallet or block. Perhaps the best labels for growing or large trees may be made with strips of tin or lead, the latter being best on the whole, from half an inch to two inches wide, and of any necessary length, upon one end of which the name is to be punched as above directed, and the other, being passed around the tree as

a band, and folded once over, will form a slack loop, in which the band will slip easily with the enlarging growth of the tree (101 d); or it may be made as a simple band or bracelet (as 101 e), with the ends overlapping or not, at discretion. Its own strength will keep it in place, and it can be read even when placed at a considerable height. All danger from cutting in will thus be avoided, and a permanent and legible label be secured.

For small plants or shrubs, 101 f may be used, being punched with smaller letters, or, if made of zinc, written upon, and coiled as 101 de; or it may be used as a stake label, instead of 102 a, for pot plants or flower-plots in the garden, &c.

All labels should be examined annually, and, if necessary, renewed or freshly painted. For trees and shrubs, however, labels alone ought not to be depended on, but every cultivator of these should prepare in a book diagrams of his several plots or orchards, upon which the position and name of each tree must be designated clearly and with precision.

STAKE LABELS.

Stake labels may be made of metal, as 101f, or of strips of

shingle for small articles, pots, &c. (102 a), and of locust, or chestnut, or cedar, or cypress, or pitch pine, for larger ones (102 b). These should be about an inch and a half square, and full two feet long, smoothed, and painted, and written on, as above directed, or marked by burning in with a branding-iron, or numbered with the Roman numerals, cut in with a knife or sawn across the face of the tally, making

a notch on one corner, or any other mark you may devise, to stand for ten, and others for fifty and one hundred, if necessary. Stake labels are sometimes made of brick or potters' clay;

K

they are simply tapering bricks of divers fashions and sizes, of which one end is formed as a tablet, upon which the name or number is imprinted while soft, or painted on, and afterward properly glazed and burned hard, Fig. 102 c, d.

TIES.

Strips of the ordinary Russian bass mat, common in our furniture stores, though generally called "garden" mats, or similar strips of the inner bark of our own bass-wood-tree, or of the willow, or the leather-wood, Dirca, or the paper mulberry, or of well-kept corn-husk, or coarse yarn, or cheap cotton twine, or candle-wick, or strips of rag, may all be used in various ways as ties, and some of them should be kept at hand for the purpose. But for securing trees when staked, straw bands are used.

CHAPTER XV.

Nature of Budding.-Bud Scions.-Stocks for, and Modes and Times of Budding.-After-treatment, &c.

BUDDING.

BUDDING is a process suited, with few exceptions, to all kinds of trees and shrubs, and should be generally preferred to grafting for its simplicity and ease.

The knives for this purpose, figured page 211, are the only forms really suitable for expert and rapid work, but the operation may be performed with a common pen or pocket knife.

Budding and grafting, though appearing somewhat difficult in description, which is necessarily prolix, are really very simple operations, which any whittling boy or smart girl may perform, and succeed on the very first trial; and, with the facilities for the cheap and rapid transmission of scions or grafts afforded by our present mail rates, the author has pleasure in anticipating that many young persons will avail themselves of the instructions here given, and plant and bud or graft choice fruits for coming years.

As a matter of curiosity, either grafting or budding may be