27 



is no occasion to be despondent and feel sorry that he ever started 

 fruit growing. These mistakes are the rule rather than the 

 exception, and do not cause serious los.> if tackled in the right 

 manner and in the proper spirit. We have already on our own 

 properties re-worked over 20,000 of such trees out of a total of 

 about 60.000. We know that some people, faced with this pro- 

 blem, think there is only one way of rectifying things, viz., by 

 digging out all the trees of the varieties doing badly. This is a 

 very great mistake and entirely unnecessary, provided that the 

 trees are growing healthily and that the stems are sound ; if these 

 conditions are there the variety must be changed over to one of 

 the other sorts that have been proved to do well. There are two 

 ways of doing this, either by budding the tree over in the summer 

 or fall, the best time being when well-ripened buds of the re- 

 quired variety are procurable, or by grafting in spring. 



Personally we prefer the former method, and find it very 

 successful in this country for trees with limbs not above two 

 inches in diameter. The buds must be inserted at the several 

 places on the different limbs of the tree that the grafter thinks 

 will make the best shaped head ; it is a matter of judgment, only 

 it is advisable to insert more buds than are required ; in fact, with 

 an unskilled wroker we would suggest inserting twice as many 

 buds as will be required. We always consider the main point 

 in working over a tree is to keep the centre well open at time of 

 working, and to keep the buds or grafts well away from the 

 centre of the head. As a rule in budding over orchard trees the 

 strings around the buds are cut too soon: there is very little 

 danger of leaving them too long. We generally find the time of 

 budding has to be carefully arranged as soon as possible after 

 the buds of the required variety are ripe to enable the budder to 

 find enough sap in the trees which are to be re-worked in order to 

 make' a perfect union. 



The other manner of working over is by grafting, using the 

 same judgment in the matter of which limbs are to be retained 

 for the purpose. There are several ways of grafting : should the 

 branches be thin enough, that is under J inch, we infinitely prefer 

 the whip graft ; if thicker, the ordinary cleft graft is generally 

 used, and gives good results. It will be found that, should the 

 buds or grafts, as the case may be. take well, they will throw out 

 a heavy growth of wood : this growth must be kept well headed 

 back from the time it is. say, 9 inches long; as. should it not be 

 carefully watched, the first heavy wind will remove the entire 

 branches of the new head. At the end of the growing season 

 there should be a well-formed and strong head to the tree, and 

 after another season's growth, such trees should have caught up 

 to the remainder of the orchard. If the job i? well done in trees 

 up to five years of age, no time is lost except in the matter of 



