BUDDING-OVER OLD CITRUS TREES 367 



spring buds start to grow almost immediately, and have the benefit 

 of the whole summer season for growth and maturing of wood. 



After the bud has started out well, the top of the stock should be 

 removed at a short distance above the bud, and suckers on the old 

 stock should be continually looked for and removed. The tender 

 shoot of the bud may be protected by tying to the stub, and when the 

 growth of the bud has become strong enough to support itself, the old 

 stock is smoothly sawn away above the bud and the wound covered 

 with liquid grafting wax or paint. 



The care of budded trees in nursery is similar to that of the seed- 

 lings of the previous year. If too great a tendency to branch low 

 down is observed, the tips of the lower shoots should be pinched, but 

 it is not desirable to under-prune much; the retention of the lower 

 branches thickens the stem. Sometimes a very rank growth on the 

 bud will need a stake to strengthen it or to protect it from blowing out. 

 The intrusion of gophers and other vermin should be resolutely and 

 persistently guarded against. 



Working Over Old Trees. Old orange trees can be transformed 

 into improved varieties either by budding or by grafting, as described 

 at the close of Chapter IX, though re-working by grafting has been 

 almost entirely superseded by budding. The common way to bud over 

 an old tree is to cut back part of the branches and force out new shoots, 

 the best of which are selected for budding and the others removed. 

 Sometimes only a part of the tree is removed at first, and when the 

 new buds have grown out on that, the other part is similarly treated. 

 Others remove the whole top except a single low branch to maintain 

 sap circulation until after the new buds start. 



Recently the practice of budding into old bark has been widely 

 adopted as the quickest way to secure a new tree. As with working 

 into old bark in other trees, it is necessary to take an older bud and 

 a larger, thicker shield of bark behind it, than when budding into 

 younger stock. Some remove the wood from the back of the shield, 

 but generally it is not done. The following is an outline of practice 

 approved by the Redlands Horticultural Club : 



Keep the buds carefully in a damp cloth. Slide the bud upward, above the 

 cross section. Bind around the bark, steering clear of the buds proper, a 

 wrapping of waxed cloth, already prepared, three-fourths of an inch wide. 

 When enough of this has been wrapped about the tree trunk or branch to 

 keep the bark and the bud in place, rub the end of the muslin strip with the 

 handle of the budding knife, down upon the muslin already wound about the 

 bark. This will hold the waxed wrapping firmlv in place. From ten days to 

 two weeks after the buds have been inserted, cut off the entire top of the tree, 

 above the buds, and cover the stump of trunk or large branch with grafting wax 

 applied hot with a brush. 



As soon as the wax is put on and it must be put on as soon as the top 

 is sawed off whitewash the tree, over the waxed cloth, also over the bud, over 

 every part of the tree that is left, except the stump ends, to which the hot 

 wax has been applied. Immediately the buds will begin to grow. From ten days 

 to two weeks after whitewashing take off the muslin wrap, and,, if the work has 

 been done carefully in accordance with the above directions, 90 per cent of the 

 buds will develop perhaps more. A prime necessity for this work is a razor- 

 sharp budding knife. 



