Page 12 



BETTER FRUIT 



February 



Art of Top Working and Bridge Grafting Fruit Trees 



By W. S. Brown, Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Oregon 



REASONS for top working: Fruit 

 trees are top worked usually for 

 one or more of the following rea- 

 sons: To change from unsuitable to 

 desirable varieties. To place weak- 

 growing wood of certain varieties upon 

 strong stock. To work over seedlings 

 or varieties that are immune to certain 

 diseases. To shape over an old tree 

 top or to (ill in after accident. To pro- 

 vide for cross-pollination in an orchard. 



BUDDING AND GRAFTING 

 Small Trees: Frequently the fruit 

 grower finds it desirable to change the 

 variety while trees are still young. It 

 may be that he has decided after two 

 or three years' observation that another 

 variety will do better for him under his 

 conditions than the one originally 

 planted. Or it may be that there was a 

 shortage of the particular variety from 

 the nurseryman in the year he planted 

 and he was forced to plant another var- 

 iety which would make good as a stock, 

 though undesirable for a permanent 

 tree. The writer knows of several in- 

 cidents of this kind. One where Grimes 

 Golden was grafted onto the Northern 

 Spy to change the variety when the 

 young trees were some two or three 

 years of age. Another where Ben 

 Davis was planted because of a 

 Ne^wtown shortage, and subsequently 

 worked over to Newtowns. There are 

 very few commercial orchards, too, 

 where there are not here and there 

 trees not true to name. It is highly 

 desirable to work these over either by 

 budding or grafting as soon as the lack 

 of uniformity becomes apparent. 



FiGUBE 2.— Scions used in cleft grafting and way in which grafting is done. 



Figure 1. — Showing T cut, insertion of bud, 



manner of tying, and the cutting of buds from 



the bud stick. 



Top working is being more and more 

 applied to reduce the chances of de- 

 struction from diseases. As an example, 

 we know the Bacterial Gummosis of the 

 Cherry causes the loss of hundreds of 

 young cherry trees each year. Many 

 trees that are not absolutely dead might 

 better be. It has been found that cherry 

 seedlings of the Mazzard type are prac- 

 tically immune to the gunmiosis. There- 

 fore, it is possible to grow the Mazzard 

 stock for a couple of years, allowing 

 the branches to be formed where it is 

 desirable, and then to top work these 

 branches to the varieties which are 

 wanted for the orchard. In this way, 

 the trunk and lower part of the prin- 

 cipal branches are kept free from the 

 infection. If a branch here and there 

 is taken by the disease, it does not en- 

 danger the life of the whole tree. Sim- 

 ilar work is being done with the pear. 

 The KeifTer has been used as a stock 

 for some time because of its relative 

 immunity to blight, and the work of 

 Professor Reimer of the Southern Ore- 

 gon Experiment Station bids fair to 

 develop for us several other pear 

 stocks practically free from fire blight. 

 By growing these stocks in our orchards 

 we shall be able to protect the roots, 

 trunks and lower portions of the prin- 

 cipal branches from this dread disease. 



Peaches that are getting too high in 

 the air, if they have good strong 

 branches, are often cut back severely 

 and young branches are forced out as a 

 consequence. If it is desirable to 

 change the variety of these trees, the 

 young branches can be budded to the 

 variety desired. Prunes, also, can be 

 budded on peach branches to good ad- 

 vantage. It should be remembered in 

 this connection that the peach does not 

 take kindly to grafting. 



It may be said in general that bud- 

 ding does well with all the stone fruits 

 and with the pear and apple, while the 

 whip graft, which is sometimes used on 



young apples and pears, is not gener- 

 ally employed with the stone fruits. 



Description of Top Working: Trees 

 may be budded in the summer as soon 

 as mature wood and good plump buds 

 are available. The peach may be 

 worked over in this way about mid- 

 summer, the cherry a little later, the 

 apple and pear in the latter part of 

 August or the first part of September. 

 The equipment for budding consists of 

 a knife with a sharp blade rounded at 

 the point and sometimes fitted with a 

 horn scalpel at the other end of the 

 handle for lifting the lip of the cut, 

 before the bud is inserted. Besides the 

 knife, one needs strands of raffia cut in 

 proper lengths for tying and thoroughly 

 moistened. Limbs or "bud sticks" from 

 trees of the variety desired are taken 

 to the field in wet gunny sacks and 

 kept thoroughly moistened. All bud 

 sticks should have their leaves cut off, 

 leaving the leaf stems in place. 



The act of budding, when understood, 

 is a simple one. It consists first in 

 choosing a point on the branch where 

 the new bud when set will have a good 

 opportunity for growth and will grow 

 in the right direction to shape the tree 

 properly, etc. Then a T cut is made in 

 this branch. The downward cut or 

 stem of the T is made first. Then the 

 transverse cut is made by holding the 

 knife blade at a slight angle in order to 

 lift the bark when this cut goes across 

 the stem of the T. Next, if it is neces- 

 sary, the bark is lifted somewhat to 

 allow the bud to slip into place. The 

 bud stick should then be taken and one 

 of the buds removed carefully with a 

 knife. This is done by starting the cut 

 from one-third to a half inch above the 

 bud and cutting carefully underneath 

 the bud, including some of the wood, 

 and coming out about one-half inch 

 below the bud. With the stem as a 

 handle, the bud can be taken and 

 pushed gently down into the T cut 



