OREGON WALNUTS 11 



thus making them worthless. If the ground is rich and well 

 prepared, the young trees will soon start into vigorous growth, 

 and they should be given the best of tillage and hand hoeing, 

 so as to keep them growing. It will be advisable, in many 

 cases, to stake the young trees to keep them from becoming 

 injured. 



If the trees are given good care, the large majority of them 

 should make sufficient growth in one season so that they can 

 be successfully grafted the following spring. 



In grafting English walnuts, it is imperative that one choose 

 good scion wood. This can generally be found on all trees pro- 

 ducing vigorous one-year-old wood. Some of the two-year-old 

 wood will suffice. The tip growth is undesirable, as it is too 

 soft and spongy. The wood which makes the best scion should 

 not contain over one-half its diameter of pith. Scion stocks 

 can be cut a foot or more in length. These can be stratified in 

 moist sand or, preferably, can be put in cold storage plants, 

 where they are stored on ice. They can be kept there at least 

 until needed. In fact, scions in this way could be kept for some 

 of the very late English walnut trees which do not come into 

 activity until June. Care must be exercised to keep the buds 

 absolutely dormant, as a sprouted scion is worthless. 



Grafting the Walnut Trees: There are many large black 

 walnut trees scattered over the state which should be top-worked 

 to the better strains of English walnuts. In four years these 

 trees could be made to be extremely productive. 



Walnut grafting is exceedingly difficult and I would sug- 

 gest that if you have very much grafting to do, either in the 

 nursery rows, or in top-working of trees, you either work with 

 someone who is considered an expert in this class of work, or 

 employ someone who has demonstrated that he can do the work 

 successfully. The most successful work in this state has been 

 done by Mr. George G. Payne, of Campbell, California. The 

 methods used, however, are outlined in the following descrip- 

 tion, taken from directions given by him : 



