260 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



When budded on quince the tree is dwarfed. This stock is 

 easy to bud ; and it is believed to produce a tree which bears 

 at an early age, while its fibrous root-system readily permits 

 of transplanting. In spite of these advantages it is considered 

 unsatisfactory in Florida, and in California it is commonly 

 held that the seedling loquat is preferable. To produce stock- 

 plants, loquat seeds may be planted singly in four-inch pots; 

 they may be sown in flats of light soil and later transplanted ; 

 or they may be germinated in moist sand or sawdust and potted 

 off as soon as they are 3 or 4 inches high. Potting soil should be 

 light and loamy. After the young plants are 8 inches high, 

 they may be planted in the field in nursery rows. When the 

 stems are about \ inch in diameter at the base, the plants are 

 ready for budding or grafting. 



In California, budding is best done in October or November. 

 Bud wood should be of young smooth wood, preferably that 

 which has turned brown and lost its pubescence and from which 

 the leaves have dropped. Shield-budding is the method used 

 (a description of the operation will be found in the chapter on 

 the avocado). The buds should be cut at least 1J inches long. 

 After inserting them in T-incisions made in the stocks at a 

 convenient point not far above the ground, they are tied with 

 raffia, soft cotton string, or waxed tape. Three or four weeks 

 later the wraps should be loosened to keep them from cutting 

 into the stock, and the eye should be left exposed. The wraps 

 should not be finally removed until the bud has made several 

 inches' growth. In California the stock-plant is cut off 2 or 

 3 inches above the bud in early spring. This usually forces 

 the bud to grow, but sometimes it shows a tendency to lie 

 dormant, and many adventitious buds develop around the top 

 of the stock. These must be removed as fast as they make their 

 appearance. 



In Florida it has been found that buds unite readily with 

 the stock-plant, but that it is difficult to force them into growth. 



