HOW TO RAISE A FRUIT TREE 



SECTION XXII GRAFTING 



By a process known as grafting you can force your 

 tree to produce whatever variety of apple you desire. Many 

 people raise fruit trees directly from seed without graft- 

 ing. They thus often produce really worthless trees. By 

 grafting they would make sure not only of having good 

 trees rather than poor ones but also of having the par- 

 ticular kind of fruit that they 

 wish; hence you must now graft 

 your tree. 



First you must decide what 

 variety of apple you want to grow o 

 on your tree. The Magnum 

 Bonum is a great favorite as a 

 fall apple. The Winesap is a 

 good winter apple, while the Red 

 Astrachan is a profitable early 

 apple, especially in the lowland 

 of the coast region. The North- 

 ern Spy, JEsop, and Spitzenberg 

 are also admirable species. Pos- 

 sibly some other apple that you 

 know may suit your taste and needs better. 



If you have decided to raise an ^Esop or a Magnum 

 Bonum or a Winesap, you must now cut a twig from the 

 tree of your choice and graft it upon the little tree that 

 you have raised. Choose a twig that is about the thick- 

 ness of your young tree at the point where you wish to 

 graft. Be careful to take your shoot from a vigorous, 

 healthy part of the tree. 



FIG. 64. TONGUE GRAFTING 



