late. If one is
impatient to determine at once which ones are to be valuable, he can
hurry the process by grafting a number of cuttings from young seedling
trees into the tops of larger trees which are already bearing--labeling
each graft, so that he may keep track of the seedling stock from which
it came. It is possible to put one hundred or more seedlings in the top
of some stock tree at one time.

One reason for delay in propagation by grafting is because the hickories
like many other trees are slow in making repair of wounds. Grafts
usually perished before being accepted by the stock under grafting
methods that were in common use. The best step forward in grafting
method for hickories is one that I obtained from Mr. J. F. Jones,
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He tells me that he obtained the method from
its originator, Mr. E. A. Riehl, Godfrey, Illinois. This consisted in
covering the entire graft, buds and all, with melted grafting wax and
including also all of the wound and wrapping of the stock. The buds make
their way through this grafting wax without any difficulty, but the
grafting wax used by Mr. Jones contained lamp black and that used by Mr.
Riehl consisted of a beeswax and rosin mixture. It was found that these
seemed to be applicable in the North but not farther south in the hotter
sun. Examining into the reasons for this, it seemed to me that in all
probability the black grafting wax used by Mr. Jones and the brown or
amber grafting wax used by Mr. Riehl, would naturally allow the heat
rays of the sun to pass through to the graft while halting the actinic
ray of light. The latter is extremely valuable for promoting the
activity of chlorophyl, which acts only in the presence of light and in
the best way in the best light. The heat rays might have certain
destructive qualities. With this theoretical idea of the situation in
mind, I employed melted paraffin in place of the grafting wax, covering
the scions completely as well as the wound in the stock and the
wrappings. This immediately proved to be a success. In fact, it appears
to have changed the entire subject of grafting nut trees in such a way
that any intelligent boy employing this method can now do better hickory
nut grafting than would have been possible at the hands of an expert two
years ago. The melted paraffin fills the interstices in which sap might
collect and ferment, but at the same time, hardening so quickly that it
does not introduce the danger