Part 35 (1/2)

MR. KINTZEL: Rubber tape?

MR. BERNATH: No, no, cloth.

MR. STOKE: That's about the same as surgical tape?

MR. BERNATH: Made especially for grafting, Mr. Stoke.

Now, you have to watch it closely because this is a tricky thing.

MR. CORSAN: This is not called Scotch Tape?

MR. BERNATH: No, this is made especially for grafting. You can get this from some of the boys.

MR. WEBER: A. M. Leonard and Son, Piqua, Ohio.

MR. RICK: That will require more attention than the rubber. The rubber takes care of itself, where this one you have to take off.

MR. WEBER: No, this decays.

MR. BERNATH: You start right here on the stock. Now you make sure that the scion--

MR. WEBER: You start at the top?

MR. BERNATH: The top, always on the top.

MR. WEBER: And that has a tendency to keep the scion worked down, whereas if you started at the bottom you might push it up.

MR. BERNATH: You have quite a pressure right around there--watch it, because it will tear, and if it tears with you, why, it's so hard to get straightened out--and then press together.

MR. WEBER: And you don't wax either the top, or anything?

MR. BERNATH: No. Now, the reason for leaving this under stock that long: if you are not careful, fungus growth will set in. If you cut right here, then the whole thing is affected with it, see. Wrap it firmly and that is there on both sides, and when the union forms and the growth begins here, when you take them out of the case, for instance, now, you take a sharp pair of shears and cut as close as you can. (Removes top of understock.) Never mind if you cut the cloth, it doesn't make any difference. Just cut it right there. Snip it right off. But that is when you take them out of the grafting case.

A MEMBER: Wouldn't it also be all right to leave that stub on to tie your sprout to so it won't want to break?

MR. BERNATH: No, you might be better off if you had a stake. Put a stake on the side of it. When everything is right that surface will callus over right quickly. It may not seem so. It does make a perfect union unlike a graft of some other types.

MR. WEBER: When you make that cut of the excess understock, you don't even wax?

MR. BERNATH: No. You can if you want to, but I don't wax. Just leave it like that.

Now the next operation. Here is this miniature greenhouse. It's moist peat. That's just about the right substance. Would anybody like to look at this? Don't get it too wet. Just walk right up here.

MR. WEBER: It feels as if it's ground up.

MR. BERNATH: It is.

MR. CORSAN: Mr. Bernath, would that be the right stuff to put sweet chestnuts in in the fall?

MR. BERNATH: You mean for sprouting?