FRUIT TREES. Chap. I. 15 



Bud grafts performed at this season are called dormant bud grafts because the bud 

 remains inactive as though it were sleeping until spring. In mid-February the stock is cut 

 off half an inch above the graft. Peach & almond trees are grafted well only by means of 

 dormant bud grafts. 



If there are only a small number of stocks available for grafting & a drought has 

 halted the run of sap before its usual time, pour several pailfuls of water on their bases, & 

 a few days later the sap will resume its run. 



If pruning of the stocks has been overlooked, this cutting must be done only 

 during or after bud grafting, & not the day before or a few days before, because the trees 

 will lose their sap. 



If bud grafts of a rare or valuable type are obtained when there is no more sap in 

 the stocks, look for suckers on the same kind of trees that retain their sap very much 

 longer and set the bud grafts on them. In the following year they will provide healthy 

 branches that can be grafted. 



2°. Crown grafts are performed on stocks over two inches in diameter during the 

 run of sap in spring, when the bark of the stock can detach easily. 



3°. Cleft grafts are done on stocks that are at least the width of a thumb, before the 

 first run of sap in the spring when the bark of the tree is very adherent, i.e. about mid- 

 February or sooner. 



But the success of all types of grafts depends on three things: the stock or wild 

 tree on which the graft is made; the graft itself, or the part of the tree that is grafted onto 

 the stock; & the operation or insertion of the graft onto the stock. 



