HICKORY NUTS. 191 



different, and a handful of almost any coarse litter would 

 be sufficient to prevent severe freezing. 



But grafting in the fall in the open ground is un- 

 necessary, where small seedling stocks are used in the 

 propagation of any kind of tree ; in fact, nurserymen do 

 very little grafting of this kind in spring, for they 

 learned, by long experience, that the most economical 

 and certain method of multiplying such trees is to take 

 up the stocks in the fall, and then graft them indoors 

 during the winter, having stocks and cions stored in 

 cool cellars or pits, where they will be readily accessible 

 when wanted. Apples, pears, quinces, grapes, and 

 many other kinds of hardy trees, shrubs and vines are 

 now extensively propagated by grafting during the win- 

 ter months, and I do not know of any good reason why 

 the hickories and other closely allied nut trees should 

 not be multiplied in this way. I have tried it, on a lim- 

 ited scale, with the shellbark hickories, and with fair 

 success, and in my opinion it is the only way by which 

 the hickories, including the pecan, can be multiplied 

 cheaply enough to become of commercial importance. 



The small stocks of one or two years old should be 

 taken up in the fall, and then crown grafted any time 

 from December to March in the Northern States, but 

 the earlier the better ; then pack away the grafted stocks 

 in moss or soil, in a cool cellar, or heel-in elsewhere, as, 

 for instance, in pits or frames, where they will not be 

 frozen, and yet cool enough to prevent active growth. 



In the spring the grafted stocks should be planted 

 out in nursery rows, and deep enough to have the top of 

 the cion just level with the surface after the soil has 

 been settled about it by a shower or heavy rains. The 

 plants must be handled with care, so as not to disturb 

 the cions. Mulching will, of course, be beneficial in 

 dry seasons, and especially if the stocks are set in ordi- 

 nary well-drained soils. In selecting wood for cions. 



