436 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



healed-over scar, the result would be a flat surface with only the bud 

 protruding, and this could be easily bound in place so as to exclude the 

 air. He tried cutting off the compound leaf, leaving a stub of an inch 

 or so, and, was delighted to find that a stub thus left became dry and 

 parted from the stem just as a mature leaf does in the autumn. By 

 cutting off the leaves in this way about August 15, the stubs part read- 

 ily before September 1, and then he takes off clean, flat buds and uses 

 them just as he does in budding the peach, except that he leaves no 

 wood behind the bud. He takes rather a large shield and puts in 

 under the bark of the stock through a "T" cut, then wraps well with 

 a strip of cheese cloth and waxes over the cloth with ordinary grafting 

 wax. The wrapping is applied so as to cover most of the bark slit, 

 everything beyond being waxed over. The bud is then allowed to 

 remain dormant until the following spring. 



Mr. Pennington of Vacaville has been very successful in budding 

 by cutting buds in the regular shield form, about l 1 /^ inches long, cut 

 from branches l /2 to % m ch in diameter, so as to get wide buds with 

 but little wood left in them. He also prefers to have stocks large, and 

 considers a stock l*/2 inches in diameter not too large. He uses ordi- 

 nary budding twine for tying, but does not use wax to cover the inci- 

 sions. He says it is best to put off budding as late as it is possible to 

 get a good flow of sap, as then the weather is likely to be cooler, 

 which is an important factor, and the growing season is about finished, 

 which will allow the twine to be left in place all winter, which he 

 considers advisable. 



Buds are more apt to succeed when pushed upward from the cross- 

 cut than downward from it. The cuts would then be an inverted "T." 

 No preparation of the budding wood is made, except that mature buds 

 are taken. About 90 per cent of the buds placed are said to grow. 



Spring budding can be done much more successfully if the bud 

 sticks are cut while dormant, in February, and kept in a cool place 

 until the trees begin to grow. The bud sticks will have also shown 

 life, and the buds can be taken from them in the usual manner and 

 inserted in the growing stocks. These buds will begin to grow at 

 once and frequently make a growth of four to six feet during the 

 season. As soon as the buds show they have united with the stock, 

 the stock should be cut above the bud and waxed. 



Grafting the Walnut. Grafting into black walnut seedling root 

 can also be well done by a triangular cut into the edge of the root 

 stump, as described for grafting into grape-vine stumps in Chapter 

 XXVI. In the case of the walnut, close binding with a wax band is 

 desirable. 



Large walnut trees can be worked over either by budding or graft- 

 ing. If by budding, the large limbs are cut back in the winter, and in 

 autumn following, buds are put in, as just described, on as many of 

 the new shoots as may be desired. 



In grafting, the common cleft graft is used with a degree of suc- 

 cess, particularly when the split is not made through the pith, but at 

 one side; the scion should be whittled so as to show as little pith as 

 possible. This is done by cutting down to a point at one side and not 



