240 ANNUAL REPORT 



that briars, willows, and all undergrowth, and even the Canada 

 thistle, by cutting or mowing down at the proper time in August, 

 will never sprout again. I know this by experience to be true in 

 part. Budding is done in the spring and latter part of August 

 and first part of September, usually by nurserymen and amateurs, 

 on small seedling trees in nursery where the grafts failed to grow, 

 and the seedling roots sent up shoots or sprouts. 



Trees of any size can be budded, but grafting is considered the 

 best. Budding is done by making a perpendicular slit on the stem 

 of small trees and on the limbs of larger trees, with the point of a 

 sharp knife, about an inch long, and a horizontal cut at the top 

 through the bark about a third of an inch long, when complete 

 resembles the letter T, or a cross. With the point of a knife 

 loosen the bark from the wood at the top and slip in a well matured 

 bud of the present year's growth, with the wood all taken out 

 except the germ at the base of the bud, bind the outside bark 

 around that of the bud with basswood bark or woolen yarn. The 

 whole operation must be done rapidly on account of the air affect- 

 ing the inside coating of the wood and bark when exposed. If the 

 operation is done in the spring, all wood above the bud must be 

 removed as soon as the bud shows indications of growth. If done 

 in the fall let the upper wood remain on till spring and then 

 remove. 



Grafting is done in the spring by sawing off the limbs near the 

 stem of the tree, and inserting one or two scions in the stubs by 

 splitting, and then covering the wound with grafting wax. The 

 whole operation is so well known that it is useless for me to de- 

 scribe it minutely. 



If an entire change is to be made in a tree, it should be done 

 gradually, say in three years, one-third each year. There is one 

 important item that escaped my mind at the proper place in this 

 paper. It is this: We often see it recommended through horti- 

 cultural and other papers, scraping' off the rough bark from fruit 

 trees, and washing with weak lye or some other fluid. The former 

 we know is wrong and we think the latter. The rough outside 

 bark is as much protection to the trunks of trees against extremes 

 of heat and cold in protecting the sap cells and inside bark, as the 

 falling of the leaves in the forest and mulching the roots of the 

 trees. 



To be successful orchardists we must copy nature as close as 

 possible in every particular. In northern latitudes, such as this, 

 trees are all on the dwarf order, and more especially on the prairie, 



