158 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



much. It should be borne in mind that top- worked trees 

 tend to grow upright ; but it is a difficulty that may be 

 largely overcome by judicious pruning. 



After the cions have made one year's growth, much of 

 the remaining top may be removed, but it should seldom 

 all be removed from old trees before the second year. 

 If some stubs have met with accidents or have failed to 

 start the cions, or if the shape of the tree or a scarcity 

 of scaffold limbs has prevented a full top being placed 

 the first spring, it may be completed the second. 



While we sometimes see grafts doing well in stubs six 

 inches in diameter, it is very doubtful whether such 

 grafts will make a strong union or a long-lived tree. The 

 wisdom of working limbs over three inches in diameter 

 is to be doubted. In the choosing of stubs, the grafter 

 should remember that large wounds, properly made, heal 

 more readily than large stubs. Choose the smaller limbs 

 for grafting even though the later removal of the top may 

 necessitate the cutting of larger limbs lower down. It 

 is better to raise the head of the tree than to work large 

 stubs. Figure 51, showing a two-year-old top on a pear 

 tree, illustrates this point; notice the large wounds below 

 the grafted stubs. 



Season for Grafting. The ideal time for grafting is 

 just as the buds are beginning to swell. While cions may 

 be set earlier than this, there is danger of their drying out 

 before a union is established. Should one care to pro- 

 long the season, it is better to run late than to begin 

 early. The opening of the season will vary from the first 

 of March to the first of April or even later in some parts 

 of the West, and may be extended until the first leaves 



