408 



THE APPLE 



below and above the bud. Be careful not to include much (if any) 

 wood. Insert the bud in the T-slit ; draw the side bark close about 

 it and secure it with a small piece of raffia or twine just below and 

 above the bud. Watch the bud and cut the raffia when it has united 

 well. When it lias developed to a length of one foot, cut the seed- 

 ling limbs or top from the tree, making a cut quite near the bud 

 and on a slant. The result is seedling roots and a grafted top. 



Budding may be done in the spring, but is usually performed 

 in August and September. The bark should slip slightly for the 

 best work ; it should slip easily at this time. 



Shield buddinir 



Root-grafting. The West seems to prefer trees that are root- 

 grafted, some sections preferring piece roots, others whole roots. 



The seedlings which are to be grafted are treated in two ways. 

 The more common way is to cut off the tops at the crown, and to 

 cut each root into two or three pieces from 2 to 4 inches long, 

 according to the diameter and length of the root. A scion is then 

 grafted into each piece by the whip-grafting method. This is called 

 a piece-root graft and the tree grown from it a piece-root tree. 

 A second way is to put one scion into the crown of each seed- 

 ling root, which is not cut except to shorten the side roots and 

 the extreme tip. This is a whole-root graft, and will make a 

 whole-root tree. 



