LUTHER BURBANK 



Grafting is no new practice. 

 Virgil wrote verses about it: 



But thou shalt lend 

 Grafts of rude arbute unto the walnut tree, 

 Shalt bid the unfruitful plane sound apples bear. 

 Chestnuts the beech, the ash blow white with the 



pear. 

 And, under the elm, the sow on acorns fare. 



Pliny, within the same century, describes a cleft 

 graft and bespeaks the following precautions: 

 that the stock must be that of a tree suitable for 

 the purpose; that the cleft must be taken from 

 one that is proper for grafting; that the incision 

 must not be made in a knot; that the graft must 

 be from a tree which is a good bearer, and 

 from a j'oung shoot; that the graft must not be 

 sharpened or pointed while the wind is blowing; 

 that the graft should be inserted during the moon's 

 increase; with the final warning, "A graft should 

 not be used that is too full of sap, no, by Hercules ! 



no more than one that is dry and parched." 



***** 



"Graft close down to the trunk," the later 

 theory of grafting has been, "there the sap 

 pressure is highest and the grafted cion has the 

 best opportunity to live. 



"Graft away out at the tip ends of the tree," 

 thought Luther Burbank, "and you will save from 

 two to seven years of time." 



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