372 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



above ground to help avoid gum disease, especially with lemons, for the 

 stocks are resistant. 



Having cut the bud and inserted it immediately, the knife point is stuck 

 crosswise into the bark below the bud so it can be quickly shoved upward 

 to place. 



A strip of waxed cloth a foot long and three-eighths inch wide is 

 wrapped around each bud, covering it, unless it is so prominent that the 

 cloth might injure it. The covering prevents undesired shoots before the 

 union is firmly made. Two turns of the cloth are made* below the bud, 

 letting the end of the strip project between the two. The third turn is 

 made above or over the bud, and after another turn or two, the job is fin- 

 ished by twisting the ends together. Thus the cloth also sheds water from 

 the bud. 



After the bud has started out well the cloth wrap is removed and 

 the top of the stock cut off at a short distance above the bud- 

 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 drafting 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 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 almost entirely superseded by budding.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. 



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 Red- 

 lands 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 bud proper, 

 ?. 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 



Ce ^i r L k and bud in place ' rub the end of the muslin strip with the 



i e budding kn ife, down upon the muslin already wound about 



This will hold the waxed wrapping firmly in place From ten 



