g2 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



through the bark of the stock and for a distance into the wood, using 

 a chisel and mallet or even a strong knife. A saw and knife are also 

 used for making this cut, as will be described in the chapter on the 

 peach. A small form of side graft has already been shown earlier 

 in this chapter. In it the scion is held in with a wax band. Some 

 growers remove the top of the stock with a sloping cut about half 

 an inch above the top of the scion, as shown in the engraving, and 

 wrap the waxed band well around and over all the exposed surfaces. 

 Others do not remove the whole of the limb until the scion has 

 started well into growth, and then they cut down and pare the stock 

 and cover with a band or with a wax that will not run in the sun. 



Several ingenious devices have been patented by Californians for 

 securing uniformity in the incision in the stock and in shaping the 

 scion, but it is so easy to succeed with ordinary tools that such in- 

 ventions have never come into wide use. Machines for the bench 

 grafting of vines have been employed to a certain extent, but not 

 generally. 



Bridge Grafting. Trees which have been girdled on the trunks 

 by gnawing of rodents or by blight, may have new connection be- 

 tween root and top by bridge-grafting. It is done by removing the 

 earth so as to expose the upper surfaces of healthy roots and spring- 

 ing-in long scions from proper places on the roots to healthy bark 

 above the injury. Cut scions about three-quarters of an inch longer 

 than the space to bridge over ; sharpen each end wedgelike ; raise 

 the bark below and above at the edge of the wound and insert scions 

 under the bark ; put plenty of scions close together ; wax well with 

 a melted wax ; wrap tightly with thin cloth and give it another good 

 coat of wax over the cloth, and prune the tree back well. Watch must 

 be kept to remove shoots which may start on the scions, and keep 

 them carrying sap through instead of using it on their own growth. 

 Such bridge-scions are usually less than a foot in length, but have 

 been used in spanning pear blight to a length of four feet. 



Citrus trees have been kept alive, though girdled by gum disease, 

 by planting seedlings close up and in arching their stems into healthy 

 bark above the diseased zone. 



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 is different 

 from that held to be necessary in other climates. It is not at all 

 requisite that the grafter should work in the "spring time." Graft- 

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

 and it is also possible to begin earlier. In apple and pear orchards 

 it is common to graft in December. The absence of hard freezing 

 saves the graft from injury. As our trees start their flow of sap 

 early, and often when the ground is too wet for comfortable or- 

 chard work, it is the practice of many to get their grafting and prun- 

 ing done before the heavy midwinter rains begin. Of course it 



