The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1915-12-31

| at ndnu. IL is out or the question to
develop handsome tree unless this
careful selection Is practiced.
The dormant sciou stem should be
carefully packed in moist sand, or in
moist sawdust, and stored in a cold,
dry, dark place, preferably in a good
cellar Don't neglect the scion stems.
Keep them dormant until the very
time for their use has come. Only the
supply for the days grating should be
brought out at a time These should
be placed in cold water, and in about
an hour all the live buds will have
manifested themselves. Some will have
commenced to swell, while all will
nave taken on bright red or rosy
hue. Dead and feeble buds will remain
dull and have lifeless appearance.
usually from six to eight inches of the
butt OF the scion stem is cut off and
discarded. Scions from the butt of the
remaining section produce the strong
est limbs, while scions from the top
/ IL.
Third, time of grafting-The time of
grating (other things being equaD is
determining factor in obtaining 100
per cent of living gratis and a max
imum of growth Experience has shown
and common sense would suggest, that
the proper time to graft is when the
tree is at flood time Of growth, when
the sap is running strong and rich
| with nutritive elements. Too early
grating can only give poor results,
equally so with late grating. Bloom
ing time is grating time, from the
time the flowers commence to open I'M
| til hey commence to fall, the full
blooming period. The experience of
very many orchardists and grafters
amply testify to this fact. The incre.. s.
ed proportion of living gratis put in
| during this period over those put in
before or after, demonstrate the effect
beyond the question of doubt.
| Fifth, wax-When the graft is in
place the adhesive wax used to ex-
clude the air and support the graft I'M
til it shall have thoroughly knit, is
all important. This wax should con-
tain no mineral substances. 1t should
be of purely vegetable composition, for
the reason that mineral oils and
greases are poisonous to trees. The
best wax used is composed of yellow
beeswax, red rosin and pure boiled
linseed oil in the following proper
tons: Yellow beeswax, 2 pounds; red
resin. pounds; pure boiled linseed
oil, l pint.
White beeswaX is too often adul-
terated with paraffine, a mineral fat.
Pale resins are sometimes adulterated,
and, anyhow, they do not give salts
faction. Linseed oil is often adulterat-
ed with cottonseed oil, and the mer-
chants from whom you buy should be
required to give positive guarantee
that the boiled linseed oil is absolutely
pure. The oil must be boiled to give
the best results, a certain agricultural
bulletin to the contrary notwithstand-
ing. The method Of making the wax
| is as follows when using the above
quantities: Melt the beeswax and res
in together in vessel of about two
gallons capacity, stirring them thor
oughly; at the same time heat the boil
ed linseed oil in another smaller YES
sci. When they are thoroughly melted
and heated, remove them from the
stove and set the vessel containing the
beeswax and resin in large dish pan
and pour the hot linseed oil in to the
vessel containing the beeswax and res
in and stir them we'll If the materials
are pure they will not foam up enough
to overrun the vessel, but if there is
any adulteration with paraffine or cot
tonseed oil, an overflow is practically
certain.
Having thoroughly incorporated the
oil with the beeswax and resin, and
while the mixture is still hot, pour
about pint Of it into a tub of cold
water. Take out the mass Of plastic
| wax thus formed from the tub and
pull it few times as you would pull
| old fashioned molasses candy, mois-
tening the hands with boiled linseed
oil to prevent the wax from sticking.
After few pulls, lay the batch" or
hand" of wax aside and pour another
pint of the hot wax into the tub of cold
water. Pull this batch, or hand, as
you did the first. Continue pouring and
pulling until all of the wax has been
| formed into hands" All the wax
should then be pulled until it assumes
a bright, yellow color, and q consis-
tency about that of old fashioned mo-
lasses candy, or taffy. This wax is
| powerfully adhesive and will not run"
that is, it will not get soft on warm
days, or melt under the direct rays of
the sun. By some it has even been
taken off the we'll headed gratis and
used the second year. The waxing
of the gratis should be done by the
| grafter's assistant, or apprentice, and
if he does his work we'll he will be
reasonably busy.