LUTHER BURBANK 
Grafting is no new practice. 
Virgil wrote verses about it: 
But thou shalt lend 
Grafts of rude arbute unto the walnut tree, 
Shalt bid the unfruitful plane sound apples bear, 
Chestnuts the beech, the ash blow white with the 
pear, 
And, under the elm, the sow on acorns fare. 
Pliny, within the same century, describes a cleft 
graft and bespeaks the following precautions: 
that the stock must be that of a tree suitable for 
the purpose; that the cleft must be taken from 
one that is proper for grafting; that the incision 
must not be made in a knot; that the graft must 
be from a tree which is a good bearer, and 
from a young shoot; that the graft must not be 
sharpened or pointed while the wind is blowing; 
that the graft should be inserted during the moon’s 
increase; with the final warning, “A graft should 
not be used that is too full of sap, no, by Hercules! 
no more than one that is dry and parched.” 
x * * * * 
“Graft close down to the trunk,” the later 
theory of grafting has been, “there the sap 
pressure is highest and the grafted cion has the 
best opportunity to live. 
“Graft away out at the tip ends of the tree,” 
thought Luther Burbank, “and you will save from 
two to seven years of time.” 
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