Afternoon Session 



TOPWORKING WILD NUT TREES 

 By Dr. Robert T. Morris, Connecticut 



There are so many wild nut trees in this country and these older 

 trees come into bearing so much more quickly than nursery stock that 

 substantial income will be derived by owners of such trees if they graft 

 them over to superior kinds. 



Topworking means a great deal of labor and attention but the 

 promptness of results stands in its favor. It is possible to topwork 

 large trees more than a foot in diameter of trunk. For the most part, 

 however, successful topworking will belong to nut trees of less than 

 one foot in diameter. I have tried out various degrees of cutting back 

 of tops and have made about the right proportion of mistakes in 

 j udgment. 



If we cut back the top of a tree too severely the root system is 

 not properly nourished and the natural balance between top and root 

 may not be regained for several years . 



If we cut back a top too severely the ends of limbs more than 

 three inches in diameter are very vulnerable to agencies of rot. This 

 is also true of limbs of less than three inches in diameter unless all 

 cut ends are carefully painted with an antiseptic paint or with melted 

 paraffin. 



If we cut back a top too severely the grafts will make such a 

 tremendous growth that they will all blow out in a high wind unless 

 elaborately braced with supports. 



Now comes the other side of the question. If we do not cut back 

 the top of a tree severely, new stock sprouts will start out in such 

 abundance from all of the limbs that are left that it means going 

 over the tree two or three times in the course of a week in the grow- 

 ing season to keep stock sprouts plucked out. If this is not done their 

 enzymes will destroy the graft sprouts, apparently. If the tree is de- 

 prived of the advantage of stock sprouts its root does not receive a 

 proper degree of nourishmenf until graft sprouts have supplied the 

 need. 



