THE FIG. 17 



The seedlings will not make sufficient progress to permit budding- 

 operations during the first season, but by midsummer of the season 

 following they will have attained sufficient size of stem for the buds 

 to be attached with ease. They have been found after many trials to 

 unite best by the common shield method. Plate IV, tig. 2. shows a 

 3-year-old stock budded two years. 



Buds should be selected from well-ripened branches of small diam- 

 eter, as these are easier to insert than buds taken from young succulent 

 growths. The bark on 1 or 2-year-old seedlings is quite thick and 

 easily bruised, and does not lift well; therefore, when buds from thick 

 and succulent wood are used there is always difficulty in placing them 

 under the bark of the stock. It will be found, moreover, that the 

 buds in the axils of the fully developed leaves are exceedingly small 

 and the bases of the petioles very large; consequently, buds of this 

 nature are far from being the best with which to work. The loquat, 

 as has already been hinted, is an exceedingly easy subject to propagate 

 by budding or grafting. The buds, if properly inserted at a time 

 when the bark lifts freely, will unite within two weeks, and a week or 

 two later, if that part of the stock above the inserted bud is partly cut 

 I nick, the buds will begin to grow very rapidly. The first indication 

 of growth consists in one or two tiny leaves covered with light hairs. 

 Shortly after these appeal- the top of the stock may be pruned to 

 within an inch or two of the inserted bud, leaving only one or two 

 mature leaves for a time. 



Propagation by grafting is not commonly practiced. When com- 

 paratively large branches are headed back and scions inserted, the 

 resulting unions are often unsatisfactory, being likely to be broken 

 off by windstorms. A method of side grafting <>-months-old seed- 

 lings is shown in Plate IV, fig. 8. This method is very satisfactory 

 and can be used best on seedlings grown in pots for shipping purposes. 



THE FIG. 



CUTTINGS. 



The usual method of propagating the tig is by means of cuttings of' 

 the l-} T ear-old shoots. These cuttings are made in lengths of from 

 8 inches to several feet, according to the moisture in the soil. When 

 the cuttings are not intended to be transplanted and are placed in the 

 orchard to form trees, large-sized cuttings of 2-year-old wood are 

 used, but when they are placed in nursery rows shorter lengths are 

 usually selected, thus facilitating handling in transplanting or ship- 

 ping. Where short cuttings will succeed, a length of from 8 to 12 

 inches will be found ample, the ends of the 1-year-old shoots giving 

 most satisfaction, as the subsequent growth is, as a rule, straight and 

 strong. 



28044— No. 4(J— 03 2 



