METHODS 01-- GRAFTING 



237 



In the furrow method (Fig. 180) a furrow eight inches 

 deep is made with a turning plow, the grafts placed 

 against the vertical side, and soil plowed back against 

 them. The work is finished either by men tramping the 

 earth against the grafts individually or by machine (Fig. 

 193} with two wheels set obliquely so as to press the soil 

 downward and against the grafts when drawn by horses 

 down the rows. Planting machines (Fig. 100) are similar 

 to those used for transplanting cabbage, strawberry, 

 sweet potato and other truck crops. During the growing 



season the nursery rows 



are culti\-ated by weekly 

 shallow stirrings of the 

 surface soil with cultiva- 

 tors and by hoeing out 

 weeds among the grow- 

 ing grafts. At the end of 

 the first season's growth, 

 fruit trees should be 

 three to five feet or even 

 taller in some cases. 

 Trees of such heights 

 are ready for orchard 

 planting. Many trees, 

 however, are allowed to 

 grow till two or even 

 more years old. 



308. "Incubator" boxes in 

 grafting. — Success has been 



greatlj' enhanced by an "incubator box," in which the grafts in bun- 

 dles or in layers are packed with damp moss and kept at a tempera- 

 ture of 75 to 80 for about three weeks by which time callusing is good 

 enough to permit remo\aI. The grafts (made in the whip style) 

 have their tap-roots shortened to six inches and are potted in six- 

 inch pots. When a few leaves have appeared, the plants are 

 hardened off and placed in a frame for the first year. This method 

 has given about 75 per cent success. 



309. Boot grafting vs. top grafting. — In West Virginia, King 

 apples top-worked on seedlings were in fairly good condition at 20 

 years old, whereas others root grafted and set in the same orchard 



FIG. 193— FIR.MING NEWLY PLANTED 

 GRAFTS 



Center wheels pack earth beside the plants. 



