A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 81 



diately inserted with as little exposure as possible, wrapped carefully. In about 

 three weeks the strings should be untied, loosened and retied, to prevent their 

 cutting the tree. In the Spring following, the tops of the trees should be cut 

 off above the bud and the bud allowed to make the growth ; all suckers should 

 be kept rubbed off. In New Jersey our success has not been such as to give 

 much encouragement with this mode of propagation, though in sections where 

 it will succeed it may be practiced, where the grafts set in the Spring have 

 failed. 



DORMANT BUDS, having been kept in cold storage, set in Spring as early 

 as the bark would peel, have in some cases given satisfactory results. 



GRAFTING, in its various styles, has given more universal satisfaction, 

 though it is also attended with much uncertainty, its success being dependent 

 upon so many conditions. The scions must have been cut in cold climates, 

 before freezing weather, to insure them against injury from cold. In milder 

 climates they may be allowed to remain on the trees until after cold weather 

 and cut before the buds have moved, and kept in cool, moist place, neither too 

 wet nor too dry. They should be kept in moss, free from sun and wind, during 

 the operation of grafting, and waxed as fast as they are set, as a very little ex- 

 posure at that time will prove fatal. After the above conditions have all been 

 complied with, and everything seems favorable, we frequently have a few days 

 of very warm weather before the scions have calloused and united with the 

 stock, that will push out the buds, which will sometimes make a growth of four 

 to six inches, and then wither and die for want of support. Both the cleft graft 

 and whip graft are used, each according to the conditions. For top grafting 

 in branches one inch or more in diameter the cleft graft is used; if the stock 

 is two to three inches in diameter two grafts may be set to advantage ; if both 

 grow, they will the sooner heal over the wound, and after one season's growth 

 the weaker one may be cut back. For small stocks less than one inch and for 

 root grafting we prefer the whip or tongue graft. For very large stocks, with 

 thick, heavy bark, the slip or bark graft is more successful. For description of 

 each style, see under Grafting, page 42. 



The best time to graft the Chestnut is in the Spring, just as the buds of 

 the stock begin to swell, and may be continued, with dormant scions, until the 

 leaves are half grown ; before the buds have moved the scions may be cut from 

 the tree and immediately set. For slip or bark grafting, however, it cannot be 

 done so early, not until after the sap is running freely and the bark will peel 

 readily and of course only with dormant scions. 



From Rural New Yorker. 



United States Pomologist Heiges says that the European Sweet Chestnut 

 (Castanea sativa] has, for many years, been grafted in France and England 



