THE WALNUT — GRAFTING. 



27 



walnut does not put forth until late in the spring, walnut stocks should 

 not be cut back until they show indications of a rise of sap; with me 

 this has been the most successful time. As soon as the stocks begin to 

 put forth they are cut back and the buds allowed to grow. In cutting 

 back the stocks great care must be exercised. They must not be cut 

 back too close to the bud so as to endanger it, as the stocks invariably 

 have a tendency to die back at the tip, at least an inch or more. As the 

 buds start they are allowed to grow at will until they become hardy; 

 they can then be trained to the remaining portion of the stock or to a 

 stake, m ol-der to produce a straight tree. . After the first year's growth 

 they can be transplanted to orchard form. 



ANNULAR OR RING BUDDING. 



This method is one of the simplest and safest to use on the walnut, 

 and especially adapted to young trees of two or three years old, and to 

 smooth limbs of large trees. In this method a ring is cut right around 



Fig. 4. 

 A. The stock prepared. B. The bud. 



the stock, about an inch long. Then a ring of about the same size 

 is taken from the cion, containing a bud, which is slipped into the 

 corresponding space in the stock, and then bound tightly with soft cot- 

 ton twine or cloth, covering it up to exclude the air. The operation 

 should be performed when the trees are in full growth, during July, 

 August, or September, and left to lie dormant through the winter, to be 

 started in the spring. 



(10) GRAFTING THE WALNUT. 



Walnut-grafting is not as easily performed as budding. Great care 

 must be exercised ihthe time and manner in which the operation is per- 

 formed. The walnut, as a rule, cannot be grafted successfully by the 

 ordinary methods" practiced on fruit trees. The reason is that the cions 

 contain but Jittle wood, the pith in them being much greater than in 

 cions_Qlother trees; and when the cion is prepared (wedge-shaped) very 

 little woo3"is^eft in it p.nd'tTie bark' is so thin that, when inserted, it 

 -cannot unite with the stock, not being h_eld firmly in position. Terminal 

 shoots, however, Have a thicker bark and more wood and are iiiost success- 



