“Has your father got his ground ready for his orchard? If he has, you might take some trees home with you.”
“No, sir, but he will have it ready in the fall.”
“But haven’t you got some room in the garden, where you could put a few trees temporarily, and then take them up?”
“O, yes, sir.”
“Well, you can take home some apple and pear trees that have never been grafted, and the scions, and graft them yourself. It will be good practice for you; and then, when you get the ground ready, you can put them in the orchard. Are there not wild cherry trees and thorn bushes on the island?”
“Yes, sir, plenty of both. Lots of cherry trees came up on the burns.”
“Well, you can graft the cherries with cherries, and the thorns with pears.”
“How nice that will be!”
“But you must graft the thorns close to the ground, and bank the earth up around them, that the pear may take root for itself.”
“Why is that, sir?”