188 THE NUT CULTUlilST. 



on others ; so of the hickories, observation has led me 

 to believe that the best stock is the bitternut, Hicoria 

 minima. This species grows almost twice as rapidly as 

 the common shagbark hickory, and while young the 

 cambium is quite soft. I should advise anyone who 

 wishes to propagate hickories on a large scale to grow 

 stocks of this species in boxes not more than four inches 

 deep. In this way all the roots can be saved and there 

 will be no extreme taproot, and when shaken out of the 

 boxes the plants are easily established in pots and ready 

 for grafting. If taken up in the ordinary way from the 

 woods, it requires almost two years to get them well 

 rooted, and often the stocks die for want of roots after 

 the grafts have really taken. If grown in rich soil, the 

 stocks will be large enough to use in one or two years. 

 I should then pot them early in the fall, keeping them 

 from heavy frosts, and bringing them into the house 

 about the first of January, and as soon as they begin to 

 make roots. I should side-graft them close to the collar 

 and plunge them in sphagnum moss, leaving the top 

 bud of the graft out to the air. The graft ought to be 

 well united about the last of March, when the plants 

 should be taken from the sphagnum and set in the body 

 of the house to finish their growth." 



All who have had any experience in the propagation 

 of trees by grafting in spring, are well aware of the flight 

 of time, in the hurry of work that must be done in a 

 few days or not at all. It is true that the season for 

 grafting may be prolonged or extended a little by cut- 

 ting the cions in winter and storing them in a cool, 

 moist place, where they remain dormant after vegetation 

 has started in the open air ; but this does not affect the 

 stocks, and these may come on slowly or rapidly, varying 

 with the seasons, and the grafter must not only watch 

 for opportune moments, but take his chances of striking 1 

 the right time and conditions., in order to be successful. 



