FRUIT TREES. Chap. II. 47 



for grafting the stocks, & a gardener otherwise occupied will miss it. Yet sometimes 

 September rains bring on a substantial resumption of sap that ruins bud grafts. I've 

 noticed this only after the fact, having watched grafts on espalier stocks fail for three 

 years in a row from any one of these causes: an excess, a shortage, or the resumption of 

 sap. Care & the watchful eye of the owner are required to achieve all the desired success 

 in this practice. I've merely summarized it & I do recommend it cautiously because the 

 small amount of care that goes into it & a concern about delay are soon compensated for 

 by the rapid progress, vigor, and well-proportioned shape &c. of a tree raised on location. 

 It may seem to most people like a new approach that takes a lot of time, care, & trouble 

 to accomplish the same result that can be achieved easily and quickly by going to the 

 commercial nurseries. 



So those who prefer to & those who have to resort to the commercial nurseries 

 should 1°. avoid nurseries with rich, moist, or manured & fertilized soil. 2°. pick out the 

 trees you need early so that you're not stuck with only the rejects. 3°. Furthermore, refuse 

 trees that are weak, crooked, stunted, cut back, moss-covered or damaged by animal 

 bites, grafts that are re-grafted, bent at their origins, or with vigorous shoots & buds that 

 are flat & far apart indicating that they had been taken from suckers. Also those that are 

 greatly swollen at the insertion point & whose shoot is much bigger than the stock; those 

 that appear to be poorly attached or afflicted with resin or canker; and those that are not 

 supplied with good buds that are likely to yield attractive new branches. Reject as well all 

 badly pulled-up trees 



