

FIELD, ORCHARD, AND GARDEN CROPS 169 



large, sweet, red apple and raise a tree bearing small, sour, green 

 fruit. 



Most fruit trees are grown by budding, a method which has 

 already been mentioned. The process requires considerable care 

 and skill. Farmers usually prefer to leave it to professional fruit- 

 growers and to buy trees ready for planting. How does the fruit- 

 grower raise a tree ? Take an apple, for instance. 



The seeds are planted in the spring. The little seedling is 

 grafted the next winter or budded the following summer with 

 a graft or bud of the desired variety. 



Grafting. Grafting is done during the dormant season when 

 the tree is not growing. The top of the seedling, or ' stock ' 

 as it is called in grafting, is cut off. The ' sd'on,' which is a straight 

 vigorous twig of last year's growth of the desired variety, is cut 

 so as to fit the stock as closely as possible. The cambium of one 

 must touch that of the other, for this is the living part of the tree 

 and through it the sap must pass from one to the other. If the 

 cambiums do not unite, the scion dies for lack of nourishment. 

 The joining of the scion and stock must be air-tight; it is covered 

 with grafting wax, made of beeswax, tallow, and linseed oil. Then 

 the graft is wrapped to hold the scion firmly in place. 



Budding. Budding is sometimes preferred to grafting. Bud- 

 ding is done in the summer during the growing season. A bud 

 from the desired variety is inserted into a T-shaped cut in the bark 

 of the stock or seedling. The joining is covered with wax and 

 wrapped to exclude the air and to hold the bud in place. The next 

 spring this wrapping is removed. The top of the stock is cut off 

 so as to throw sap and growth into the bud shoot. 



Transplanting. The grafted or budded tree is left to grow 

 one or two or more years. Then it is set out in the orchard. It 

 is called one or two or three years old, according to the age of the 



