70 



HOME FRUIT GROWER 



hand that guides it! 

 Shun it. 



The pole primer 

 has very limited use 

 the shortening of 

 branches that cannot 

 be reached by better 

 tools. It cannot be 

 made to do good 

 work, so the less it is 

 used the better. 



GRAFTING AND 

 BUDDING 



For curiosity's 

 sake and for conven- 

 ience it is a good thing 

 to know how to graft 

 and bud, for thus 

 seedling or worthless 

 trees may be made 

 useful and single trees 

 made to produce sev- 

 eral varieties. The 

 term "stock" is ap- 

 plied to the part of 

 the tree in or upon 

 which the "scion" or 

 "bud" from the de- 

 sired variety is placed. 

 The most popular 

 methods are so simple 

 that anyone may be 

 successful, provided the conditions are fulfilled. These are: 



1. Select trees of the same species. Any Apple will grow on any 

 other Apple; Pear on Pear and so on. In a few cases different species 

 may be made to succeed 'on each other; as Pear on Quince, Plum on 

 Peach, but not Quince on Pear nor Apple on Plum. 



2. Do the work at the proper time when the bark will separate 

 easily from the wood. For the grafting method described on page 71, 

 this is shortly after growth starts in Spring; for the budding method, 

 usually during late May or early June in the South and from 



Fig. 53. Various styles of pruning saws. 1 and 2, Good 

 swivel blade types. 3, Poor hand grip, otherwise a good 

 saw. 4, Common, fine-toothed saw, good for narrow 

 quarters. 5, Double blade with upper teeth filed off 

 to avoid damage. 6, Weak handled, but otherwise good 

 saw. 7, Cuts only when pulled, often tears the branch 

 instead of finishing the cut properly 



