IS PROPAGATION <>F TROPICAL FRUIT TREES, ETC. 



The best time to make the cuttings is in the fall when the season's 

 growth is thoroughly ripe. Where the winters are not severe the 

 cuttings may be put in the ground where they are to root. They are 

 most easily cared for when placed in rows moderately close together. 

 so that the young plants can be watered if necessary and cultivated 

 with less labor than if put in the positions which the trees are intended 

 to occupy permanently. In localities where the cuttings are likely to 

 be injured by freezing weather they should be prepared in the fall 

 and stored during the winter in moderately damp sand in a cellar. In 

 early spring, or as soon as the soil is in a workable condition, trenches 

 should be prepared for the reception of the cuttings, as they are likely 

 to make roots very early. 



In preparing the cuttings the usual custom is followed by making 

 the lower cut just beneath a joint and where a terminal bud is not 

 present the upper cut should be made about three-quarters of an inch 

 above a joint. The soil must be deeply worked and the cutting 

 inserted in the soil so that only the top bud is visible. 



GRAFTING AM) BUDDING. 



Propagation by grafting and budding is sometimes resorted to, 

 especially when trees prove to be unprofitable and it is desired to use 

 them as stock plants on which to work good varieties. Another 

 reason wh} T budding and grafting may be practiced more than hitherto 

 is that Smyrna and Capri tigs may be worked on other varieties of 

 old-established plants, and thus come into bearing much sooner than 

 when raised from cuttings. 



The successful colonization of the insect which pollinates the flowers 

 of the Smyrna tig will result in greatly enlarging the fig-growing 

 industry not only in California, but also in several other sections of 

 the country, if the insects can be established and maintained through 

 freezes 



Although the fig is not so easily propagated by the usual methods 

 of grafting and budding as are most of the other kinds of fruit trees, 

 yet there are several ways of accomplishing the desired result. In 

 Bulletin No. 9 of the Division of Pomology of this Department Dr. 

 Gustav Eisen describes a method of grafting the fig employed in 

 California. This is a modification of the cleft graft, which is used 

 mainly on branches of large diameter and is successful when skillfully 

 done. It differs from ordinary cleft grafting in that the cuts for the 

 reception of the scions do not point to or cross the pith, but are 

 directed to one side. The operation must be performed when the 

 trees are in a dormant condition. 



An exceedingly simple method of grafting which may be used by a 

 person having little experience in this line of work has been success- 

 fully practiced at the Department of Agriculture for some time. 



