GRAFTING IN NURSERY AND ORCHARD 73 



Usually the budded trees are allowed to stand in the nursery row 

 with no other treatment that year than the insertion and care of the 

 bud, the latter remaining dormant until the next spring. Then, as 

 soon as the sap begins to swell the buds on the stock, the top is cut 

 off down to about two inches above the bud, and all growth is kept 

 off except that of the inserted bud. When that has grown out about 

 twelve inches, the stub is cut off to about three-quarters of an inch 

 or less from the bud, and the wood is quickly grown over by the 

 bark. As there are apt to be dormant buds on the stock below the 

 inserted bud, the trees have to be examined from time to time, and 

 all such suckers removed. This is the common practice with budded 

 trees. Exceptions will be noticed presently in connection with defini- 

 tions of different kinds of trees known to the trade. 



Spring Budding. What has been said in reference to budding 

 applies to the use of dormant buds. It is also possible to work with 

 what is called a "pushing bud." This process consists of keeping 

 bud-sticks alive and dormant by burying them in the ground until 

 the sap is starting well in the stock in the spring, and then putting 

 them in, trimming off the top of the stock so as to force the bud into 

 growth. In this way the grower of a rare variety may secure trees 

 for planting out the following winter, or he may secure a stock of 

 buds for fall budding and thus multiply his stock of a desirable 

 variety very rapidly. A modification of this method consists in tak- 

 ing buds in the spring when they have grown out even half an inch, 

 and inserting them by the usual method of lifting the bark, when the 

 sap is flowing well in the stock. Then cut off about half the stock, 

 so as not to give the bud too much sap at first, and afterward, when 

 it is seen to have taken well, the balance of the stock is cut off near 

 the bud. This method gives a tree the first season and saves a year 

 over dormant budding. Shade and protection from dry wind are 

 desirable. 



Another process of getting a small tree the first summer is 

 "June-budding," which will be described later. 



GRAFTING 



Grafting, like budding, consists in bringing the growing wood 

 (inner bark or alburnum) of the scion into contact with the same 

 layer of the stock. It can be applied to any part of the tree, from 

 the topmost branch to the lowest root, as is the case when new trees 

 are made from scions and root fragments. Thus grafting pertains 

 both to the production of young trees for planting out and to the 

 transformation of old trees bearing undesirable fruit into producers 

 of better varieties. 



Grafting for the production of young trees is first in order. In- 

 stead of budding the seedling during the first summer of its growth, 

 it may be allowed to complete its season's growth, and drop its 

 leaves. When thus dormant the young trees are taken from the 

 ground, the roots rinsed off with water if the ground is wet and 

 sticky, or merely shaken free from clinging earth if in a dry time. 



