Page 10 



BETTER FRUIT 



August, 1921 



Budding the Peach, Plum and Cherry 



By Joseph Oskamp, Horticulturist Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station 



BUDDING is commonly resorted to in 

 the propagation of peaches, plums and 

 cherries, although apples may be budded 

 with good success. The work is done dur- 

 ing July, August or September when the 

 bark will peel or readily separate from the 

 wood. Where the growing season is early it 

 is possible to bud earlier in the summer. 

 Buds inserted in the late summer unite with 

 the stock, but no growth takes place until 

 the following spring, when the stock is cut 

 off just above the bud and all the growth 

 forced into the desired bud. 



A very much larger percentage of buds 

 can be expected to grow if they are in- 

 serted in wood that grew the same season 

 that the budding is done, although buds will 

 grow in older wood. If trees are grown 

 from the seed, apple trees may sometimes 

 be too small for budding the first season, in 

 which case they can be cut back to the 

 ground and the new sprouts budded the 

 following summer. 



In the case of the stone fruits the bud- 

 ding is done as near the ground as it is con- 

 venient to work, usually two or three inches 

 from the surface of the soil. Apples are 

 budded at about the height that it is wished 

 to start the head, or the buds are even set in 

 the lateral branches when it is the desire 

 to use a hardy stock which is not susceptible 

 to disease or winter injury. 



The buds are procured from the twigs 

 of the current season's growth of the variety 

 to be propagated and these twigs are known 

 as "budding sticks." The buds are less well 

 developed on the ends of these sticks and 

 therefore the three or four inches of term- 

 inal growth is cut off. 



The first step in budding is to make a 

 longitudinal slit in the bark of the stock 

 or seedling tree at the desired point and at 

 the upper end of this slit a cut crosswise is 

 made thus forming a letter "T" in the 

 bark at the point where the two cuts meet. 

 The bark at the intersection is gently raised 

 with the point of a knife and the two ends 

 are rolled back so that the bud can be in- 

 serted. The bud is cut from the "budding 

 stick" by slipping the knife blade through 

 the bark from beneath the bud upward to a 

 point about a sixteenth of an inch above 

 the bud. The knife is withdrawn and a 

 crosswise cut severs the bud from the stick. 

 For convenience in inserting, it is well to 

 leave a portion of the leaf stem on each 

 bud when cutting off the leaves from the 

 budding stick. The flaps are opened as 

 suggested and holding the bud by the short 

 leaf stem, it is forced from above down- 

 ward until the square end of the patch of 

 bark bearing the bud comes down to a point 

 where it fits the crosswise cut made in the 

 seedling tree. The bud is now ready for 

 tying. Nurserymen frequently use carpet 



string for this purpose. Starting to wind the 

 string at the bottom of the bud, bring the 

 end up in such a manner that it will catch 

 beneath the wound string, so that no knot 

 is necessary and proceeding until the string 

 covers practically the entire cut area, ex- 

 cept only a small portion of the bud and 

 adhering stem. The top end is secured in 

 a loop so as to hold the twine in place. It 

 will be necessary to examine the buds within 

 ten days from the time of wrapping be- 

 cause the young trees are growing at this 

 time and the string soon begins to bind and 

 choke. The string is cut by running the 

 blade of a sharp knife through it lengthwise 

 of the seedling on the opposite side from 

 which the bud is inserted. 



Peach, plum or cherry seedlings can be 

 purchased from nurserymen or the seeds 

 from the family orchard may be planted 

 and the seedlings grown in which to set the 

 buds. Peach seeds should be allowed to 

 freeze during the winter by placing in 

 sand or dirt out of doors where they may 

 become well soaked by rain and snow. The 

 pits are planted out in the spring. Plum 

 seeds are treated in the same manner. Cherry 

 seeds should not be allowed to dry out, as 

 they will then sprout with great difficulty. 

 Seed from the common varieties of plums 

 and cherries may be used for growing seed- 

 lings, but the more desirable stocks used by 

 nurserymen for this purpose are the Myro- 

 bolan and Marianna plums and Mahaleb 

 and Mazzard cherries. 



The Value of Topping Strawberry Plants 



By Gordon G. Brown, Horticulturist Hood River Experiment Station 



IVrOW that the strawberry harvest is over 

 •^ ' it is well that the grower lay plans for 

 the most important factors connected with 

 the care of such plants for the remainder 

 of the season. 



Topping of plants and fertilizing now 

 command attention because upon the manner 

 in which this is done depends results for 

 next year. It is well to keep in mind that 

 sturdy, thrifty plants only will pay and that 

 stunted plants as a rule are a liability 

 rather than an asset. 



The writer has been conducting a num- 

 ber of experiments during the past two years 

 with reference to the best time to top plants. 

 The customary practice is to allow from 

 two to four weeks to elapse after harvesting 

 before doing this work. A common concep- 

 tion is that the plants require a "rest" and 

 that they will do better when so handled. 

 During the two or four weeks mentioned 

 the plant remains somewhat inactive until 

 topping is done. Then new leaves are 

 thrown out rapidly. Experiment station rec- 

 ords favor topping both in point of yields, 

 size of fruit, vigor of plants and practical 

 economy in cultivation. When the tops are 

 not removed it is quite difficult to hoe 

 around the plants thoroughly and economic- 

 ally. 



The main consideration is the question of 

 the best time to top. Shall we wait two 

 weeks or a month before doing this? Ap- 

 parently there is little to support the de- 

 lay. The old leaves have practically ceased 

 to function. Obviously, more plant food 

 cannot be stored up until new leaves are 

 present to manufacture this; neither will a 

 new vigorous root system be developed. In 

 two tests bearing upon this problem the re- 

 sults for 1920 and 1921 support this view. 

 The fruit from plants thus handled was 



larger both in size and yield. Five year old 

 plants that were not topped were less vig- 

 orous than the plants which were topped. 

 The crowns, as a rule, were smaller and sup- 

 ported leaves of smaller size than topped 

 plants. The tests, as suggested have been 

 running only two years, but preliminary 

 results favor early topping. 



Dynamite Improvement 



f I ^HE announcement is made that the 

 •*- DuPont Powder Company has per- 

 fected a formula for the manufacture of 

 straight dynamite which results in that 

 explosive being proof against freezing even 

 in zero temperatures. As a consequence of 

 this development, the company has de- 

 termined to discontinue the manufacture of 

 its former straight dynamite and hereafter 

 all this kind of explosive will be made by 

 the new low freezing method. Straight 

 dynamite has for years been the standard of 

 the world in nearly every kind of open 

 work, but a disadvantage has been Us 

 liability to freeze at temperatures below 

 fifty degrees Fahrenheit. 



As any dynamite loses some part, if not 

 all, of its efficiency when chilled or 

 frozen, many attempts have been made to 

 make it low-freezing. The perfection of 

 the new "powder" by the Du Pont compa- 

 ny makes it possible to use straight dynamite 

 the year round in industrial operations. 

 Thawing, with its loss of time and at- 

 tendant dangers, has practically been elim- 

 inated. The new explosive has been fully 

 tested and proved and the formula for 

 making it has been made standard in all 

 the plants of the company producing 

 dynamite. 



