34 APPLE GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



trees, other characteristics being desirable also, should be the ones from 

 which buds are taken. The orchardist usually has a better chance to 

 utilize such trees than the nurseryman. The limited number of trees 

 that he would need for his own use often makes it possible for him to 

 secure bud wood from only one tree, which possesses more desirable 

 characteristics of its kind than any other with which he is familiar. The 

 wide breach between the quantity of fruit represented by the maximum 

 producing trees of an orchard and the minimum, or even average pro- 

 ducers, can never be greatly lessened until more careful attention is 

 given to the selection of buds for propagating purposes. 



The budding operation is quite simple and is well illustrated in Figs. 

 17, 18 and 19, after Lelong. These illustrations were made for use in 

 a citrus publication, but as the operation with apples is similar, they 

 serve the purpose in this book equally as well. 



In the nursery an expert budder merely inserts the buds, the tying 

 being done by some one else who immediately follows him. Either 

 cotton twine or fibre from palm leaves, known as raffia, is used for 

 holding the buds in place. As much care, if not more, is necessary in 

 the tying of the bud as in placing it beneath the bark. The tying should 

 be tightly done, thus binding the bud firmly to the stem and greatly 

 facilitating its starting. 



ROOT-GRAFTING. 



This operation is accomplished by the use of seedling roots, whole or 

 in part, to which bud wood of the desired variety is united. In the past 

 this has been a very popular method of propagating nursery apple trees, 

 but has been very largely superseded by budding, for reasons already 

 given. Such grafts are usually made during the dormant season, and 

 kept in wet sand or other suitable material until setting time in the 

 spring. 



