230 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



of budding lies in the fact that very little suckering has to be done, 

 such as is necessary after grafting, and this is a valuable consideration. 

 Again, the budded tree, having the union well above ground, is not 

 as liable to decay or heal poorly at this point as is the graft. Both 

 operations may often be practiced to advantage by the nurseryman, 

 grafting in February and March all the stocks which are large enough, 

 budding in April and May those which were too small for grafting, and 

 in June and in early July the sprouts which have come up from the 

 unsuccessfully grafted trees. By budding several inches from the 

 ground those seedlings which do not take can be budded again a little 

 lower down, and thus by diligent and continuous work it is not impos- 

 sible to obtain a nearly perfect stand of salable trees during the first 

 year. Fall budding upon stocks in their second year of growth pro- 

 duces very large trees the following year, and so is of some advantage. 

 With very thrifty seedlings it is possible to do a good deal of budding 

 during the late summer and fall of the same year in which the nuts 

 were planted, and this again may sometimes be of advantage in obtain- 

 ing a long season during which the stock may be worked. Inquiry is 

 sometimes made as to the possibility of producing salable trees in one 

 year by sprouting nuts early, forcing their growth in the nursery so 

 that they may be budded in June or early July of the same year, and 

 then pushing the sprout along to make a tree that same season. While 

 this is possible with peach and other fruit trees, it is not likely that 

 it can be accomplished with walnuts to any extent or that the green, 

 immature buds thus produced would have any ultimate advantage in 

 orchard planting. The future care of buds is the same as that of grafts 

 and need not be particularly described. 



METHODS OF TOP-WORKING. 



In working over good-sized walnut trees, either in the case of black 

 walnuts planted in orchard form, black walnuts standing along road- 

 sides, in dooryards, or any other place where it is desired to work them 

 over into English walnuts, or in the case of English walnuts which the 

 owner wishes to change over into other varieties, somewhat different 

 methods are usually employed than those used in nursery work. 



Top-Grafting. In regard to the time of grafting, choice and care of 

 the scions, making of grafting wax, and other operations common to 

 both processes, the same general rules apply. Trees to be worked over 

 may be cut off either in the main stem from two to five feet above 

 ground, if this is at least 3 to 4 inches in diameter, or the limbs may 

 be cut off and grafted either just above the main forks of the tree or 

 further out, according to the size of the limbs and the amount of graft- 

 ing wood available. It is not usually advisable to cut off extremely 



