72 LUTHER BURBANK 



five; and budding was even less successful. But 

 the importance of the subject led to a care- 

 ful study of methods, and to-day grafters who 

 thoroughly understand their work are so success- 

 ful that they scarcely have more than two or 

 three failures to hundred successful grafts. 



To attain such success, however, it is neces- 

 sary to attend carefully to the various stages of 

 the process. The grafting should not be at- 

 tempted until quite late in the season; just after 

 the buds begin to start is the most opportune 

 moment. Hard wood should in all cases be 

 selected for grafting; the pithy tips are utterly 

 worthless for this purpose. Some grafters claim 

 that only about two cions should be used from 

 the base of the last year's growth where the wood 

 is very firm. 



Of course the principle of fitting the inside 

 bark or cambium layer of stock and cion accu- 

 rately together applies here as in the case of 

 every other tree. Further details of the method 

 will be given in a subsequent chapter, where the 

 special methods of grafting and budding will be 

 more fully examined. It suffices for the moment 

 to emphasize the fact that these methods of 

 propagation are as advantageous in the case of 

 the walnuts, whether hybrid or of pure strains, 

 as in the more familiar case of fruit trees. 



