ot see how you could imagine anything more perfect than
this specimen, from which I wrote my description in the book. As a
matter of fact it is by the use of the paraffin method that I seemed to
have solved the very great problem of making it possible for anybody to
graft anything, and at any time of the year. The most difficult thing to
graft is the shagbark hickory, and we have even done that every month of
the year, except December and January. This year we are going to try
those months, for I believe that the hickory tree may be grafted any
month of the year.

Now the point of my remarks will relate to different kinds of paraffin.
This Parowax, which melts at 125 degrees farenheit, will be satisfactory
in the north temperate regions. We may raise the melting point ten
degrees, if we like, by the addition of the carnauba wax, which,
however, is highly crystalline. A crystalline wax is not desirable
because it cracks and permits the air to enter and we have a desiccation
of the scion. The Standard Oil people will furnish paraffin with a
melting point of 138 degrees, and that will cover all of our needs for
hot countries. But in getting paraffins that melt at 136, 137 or 138
degrees we have a rather definite crystalline element. Mr. Bixby has
suggested the use of the earth wax which is mined in Australia. It is
really a fossil paraffin and is not so granular. I found that it is not
to be had in this country at the present time, however, although various
dealers told me that they had it, and I obtained from a firm in New York
City a misbranded specimen called "Ozokerite," which they said is a
technical term for this particular fossil paraffin. But it was nothing
of the sort; it was something they had made up for themselves. Mr. Bixby
kindly gave me a pound or so of the real "Ozokerite," so I had the
genuine thing to experiment with. We may then settle the question of
obtaining paraffines which have a high melting point, by knowing that
they may be obtained from any of the Standard Oil people.

Knowing that we must have, in addition, the elastic feature, I found one
man who had succeeded by adding something to a high melting-point
paraffin. He said that it was a secret, but I soon found that it would
be no secret to a bee. It would seem, then, that this quality in beeswax
would be valuable, since the secret formula from this same dealer has
little more than beeswax in it. Beeswax is a different kind of organic
product f