OBSERVATIONS ON GRAFTING. 345 



OBSERVATIONS ON GRAFTING. 



CHAS. F. GARDNER^ OSAGE, IOWA. 



This is not what might be called a rommercial way of insert- 

 ing scions, as there is no nursery, to my knowledge, now or at 

 any time in the past, which has offered this line of trees for sale, 

 and what is true in the past will no doubt be true in the future. 



The idea is this, that any one, no matter where, if he has 

 trees already grown, one or many, beginning to bear, and wishes 

 to change them to some other variety, this is one way to 

 do it, without money and without price, only a few moments of 

 time and a little care. It will always be a pleasure to you to 

 show those trees to your friends as the result of your handi- 

 work. 



Last spring we had about one hundred plum trees, Americana 

 stocks, that would caliper over two inches at the collar, and, 

 wishing to change them to many other varieties for the purpose 

 of securing cross-pollination in nature's way, I concluded to try 

 the method as reported by Mr. Wyman Elliot and by Mr. Patten, 

 who attended the Plant Breeders' Association held at Lincoln, 

 Nebraska. I removed from three to four inches of earth round 

 each tree, and sawed the stems off on an average of two inches 

 below the top of the soil. I spent a half day in trying to fit a 

 scion with the use of a saw and oval harness knife, as explained 

 by Mr. Elliot, but finally gave up in despair as I could not make 

 a satisfactory junction that way. But I proceeded to do the 

 grafting, though I did not use the saw, after cutting off the 

 stems. I used the five inch oval harness knife and a mallet, 

 cutting a downward sloping cut on the east and on the west side 

 of the stocks. In these sloping cuts were inserted scions from 

 eighteen to thirty-two inches in len^h, the scions on the east side 

 being all of some variety of Domestica, while those on the west 

 side of the stock were of some variety of Americana. 



I used wool twine for wrapping, going round the stock six 

 or more times as tight as it could be drawn by the hands, and 

 then made it tighter by the insertion of a wedge, driven in on 

 one side, half way between the two scions and between the stock 

 and string. No wax was used. The earth was then replaced, 

 packing some of it firmly about the stock, stakes driven, scions 

 tied thereto and labeled. One great point essential to success is 

 the proper staking of the scion, when set, and keeping the plant 

 well staked and tied for three or four years, until all danger of 

 splitting is passed. 



The scions were set the first week in April, and the most of 

 them were cut as used, being at that time in a dormant condi- 

 tion. The stocks were in rows east and west, so that each scion 

 stood in the middle of the row. They are now eight months old, 

 very heavily branched, and are from thirty-six to seventy inches 

 in height above where the scion was inserted, with an average 

 caliper of one inch. Apple trees grafted in the same manner have 

 done remarkably well. 



