OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRAFTING IN CALIFORNIA 85 



tions have never come into wide use. Machines for the bench grafting 

 of vines have, however, been successfully employed to a certain extent, 

 but are not generally used. 



TIMES FOR GRAFTING IN CALIFORNIA 



There is nothing particularly new about the methods or means 

 employed for grafting deciduous fruit trees in California, but the time 

 at which the operation can be successfully done, and the condition of 

 the scion, are different from those held to be necessary in other cli- 

 mates. It is not at all requisite that the scions should be carefully 

 stored away to keep them in a dormant condition, nor that the grafter 

 should haste to do his work in just such a state of sap-flow in the spring 

 time. It was early discovered that grafting could be successfully done 

 with growing scions, and that scions could be cut from one tree and 

 set in another nearly at any time the grafter desired. Grafting is 

 therefore possible much later in the season than is prescribed elsewhere, 

 and it is also possible to begin earlier. In one of the largest apple 

 and pear orchards in the State it is common to graft in December. 

 The absence of freezing weather saves the graft from injury. As our 

 trees start their flow of sap early, and often when the ground is too 

 wet for comfortable orchard work, it is the practice of many to get 

 their grafting and pruning done before the heavy midwinter rains 

 begin. The practice of most growers is, however, to conform some- 

 what nearly to traditional methods, to do most of the grafting in the 

 spring months, and to use dormant scions, the growth of which is 

 retarded by heeling them in on the north side of a building, or keeping 

 them in sand in the cellar, as the grower chooses. Of course it should 

 be understood that there are parts of the State where the winter condi- 

 tions are more nearly like those at the East, and practice has to conform 

 to them. 



As to whether it is better to remove the whole top of the tree and 

 graft all the limbs in one year, there is some difference of opinion. The 

 prevailing practice is to graft over part of the limbs one year and the 

 balance the following year; or else to leave part of the top to shade 

 the bark and take part of the sap flow until the grafts start out well, 

 and then cut it away. When a large amount of grafting is to be done, 

 the limbs may be cut off during the weeks preceding grafting. In this 

 case, the cut should be made a foot or two above the grafting point 

 and a second cut be made at this point, when ready to put in the scions. 



Whenever old bark is exposed by cutting back for grafting, thorough 

 protection against sunburn must be provided. The simplest way to do 

 this is to cover the exposed bark with good whitewash. By using thirty 

 pounds of lime, four pounds tallow, and five pounds of salt with enough 

 water to make it flow well, a tenacious whitewash can be secured. 



What has been said thus far relates especially to the working over 

 of old trees of common deciduous fruits. Though much the same 

 method will succeed with some of the semi-tropical fruits and with nut 

 trees, the discussion of their propagation and grafting over will be 

 deferred to the chapters devoted to them, and this will also give oppor- 

 tunity to describe methods especially adapted to these fruits. 



