105 



cases are lined with tar paper or liglit roofing, both the sides and the 

 lid. The latter is hinged for ease in getting out scions as needed. No 

 packing is used around the scions and they draw enough moisture from 

 the damp ground below to hold them plump and in good condition. 

 Good scions, stored in this way, can be kept for weeks or even months, 

 if need be, in excellent condition. People often write me asking why 

 it is they can graft nut trees and secure good stands with scions secured 

 from me while they fail with their own scions. The trouble is, usually, 

 that they have packed their scions too damp and they have absorbed too 

 much moisture. Nut scions for grafting are soon spoiled if packed 

 too damp, even if kept at temperatures considerably below that required 

 to cause the sap to flow in trees outside. In judging whether scion wood 

 is too sappy to use, our rule is, if the bark peels off easily they are 

 too sappy. This, however, does not always hold good in practice. 

 Black walnut scions, especially, will sometimes give good results after 

 they have reached this condition, but they must be used promptly. 



Controlling the Sap in Stocks to he Grafted 

 In the beginning in the propagation of northern nut trees in Penn- 

 sylvania, we found results much more uncertain than in the lower south 

 and, while good stands of grafts were sometimes secured and we would 

 feel that we had "turned the trick", the next season blocks of stocks 

 grafted under seemingly the same conditions often gave poor stands of 

 grafts. Closer observation and tests showed that those stocks that 

 bled (ran sap) even moderately when cut back for grafting, were gen- 

 erally failures. Also, that in those stocks that bled freely the reaction 

 was much slower, due to the devitalizing effect of the bleeding, and they 

 calloused slowly if at all. Grafts set on such stocks are pushed quickly 

 into activity and, if they are not injured by the souring of the sap from 

 the stock, they start callousing quickly and considerably ahead of the 

 stock, and are caught at the critical time on a dry, inactive stock and a 

 union is impossible. 



We overcome this by cutting the stocks back a week or ten days 

 ahead of grafting. They are cut off at the point we wish to graft them, 

 which is usually i to 6 inches above the ground line, the cleft to receive 

 the graft being cut in the stub without recutting. If the stubs are cut 

 again for grafting the cut must be very light, otherwise the stock 

 will probably bleed again, and is very stubborn to handle. 



Sometimes it is advisable to go over a block of stocks twice, leaving 

 those stocks that may be still bleeding a few days longer. 



