STOCK AND CION HANDLING 



205 



easily root grafted, though perhaps not as profitably. 

 Whole roots are generally used, the union being made at 

 the crown. In the cold Northwest the work is done with 

 the intention of making the trees own-rooted. 



Cherry buds are generally taken from nursery stock. 

 Apparently varieties do not wear out, since old kinds have 

 lost no characters accredited to them, even centuries ago ; 

 nor does taking buds from vigorous, mature trees or 

 even decrepit trees seem to make a difference all alike 

 produce the variety. Hence, the hypotheses that fruit 

 trees degenerate and that they may be improved by bud 

 selection finds no support in the cherry. 



264. Cherry grafting. At the Canadian Experimental Farms root 

 grafts of Morello on commercial stocks gave poor results; crown 

 grafts good ones. For budding, the bird cherry (P. pennsylva- 

 nica) gave so much sap that buds did not unite well. 



265. Cherry grafting and budding. Cherry cions, according to 

 a writer in the Gardeners' Chronicle, should be cut at least two 

 months before grafting and buried in a sheltered frost-proof place. 

 Established stocks are budded in July, not at the base, but at the 

 exact height of the head. Stocks that fail to take are grafted the 

 following spring, when the stocks are headed back as close to the 

 ground as convenient and whip grafted, cions being about five 

 inches long, bound with raffia and covered with prepared clay 



FIG. 170 BARK GRAFTING IN VARIOUS STAGES 



1. Stock. 2, cions 

 but two cions grew. 



tied. 3, cions waxed. 4, cion. 5, results; 



