BUDDING THE PECAN 



1665 



the summer will supply favorable con- 

 ditions. If these little details are faith- 

 fully attended to there is little danger 

 that unsuccessful results will follow. A 

 little extra expense is involved at first, 

 but careless handling will be far more 

 costly in the end. 



G. W. Oliver 



Top-Working 



It is often advantageous to top-work 

 trees in order to take advantage of time 

 by utilizing stocks which have become 

 well established, and to secure better 

 varieties or disease-free trees. It is some- 

 times advantageous to top-work native 

 trees where they are properly located. 



Method 



Top-working is done by budding and 

 grafting. The method of budding has 

 already been described under budding. 

 The advantage of grafting over budding 

 lies in the fact that it may be done in 

 February when the pruning is done 



Fi^. 1. Shows How Trees Are Topped and 

 Budded with Fine Sorts. Shows also how 

 the name of the variety budded is marl^ed 

 on tree. 



rather than in August when the budding 

 must be performed. 



Both the cleft and whip graft are used, 

 the cleft graft being employed on large 

 branches while the whip graft is used 

 for small twigs. The work should be be- 

 gun at the top of the trees and progress 

 downward. All cut and split surfaces 

 should be waxed. 



Cost of Trees 



It pays to start with good trees. These 

 should be secured from reliable nursery- 

 men whose prices are generally reason- 

 able. The cost per tree ranges from 50 

 cents to $2 according to size. The ad- 

 vantage in securing the higher-priced bud- 

 ded or grafted tree over the seedling lies 

 in the fact that with the former they will 

 come into bearing at least within five 

 years (often in three) from the time of 

 planting, whereas the tree from the seed 

 will generally require from 12 to 14 years, 

 and may never bear. Again, there is al- 

 ways uncertainty as to the size of the nut 

 the seedling will produce. 



The man with limited capital should be- 

 gin in a small way with the best trees. 

 He should plant seed nuts from thrifty 

 trees to be used as stocks into which th'e 

 buds or scion wood from his few stand- 

 ard trees can be inserted. This is a slow 

 method, but a sure one as the grower 

 knows exactly what to expect. A part of 

 each year's growth of the standard trees 

 can be cut for bud wood or scions with- 

 out detriment to the trees and this sur- 

 plus can be readily sold to nurserymen 

 where the varieties can be guaranteed. 

 Supplying this wood from excellent trees 

 is very remunerative. 



Planting 



Nursery trees are generally sold ac- 

 cording to their height, running from one 

 foot up to ten feet. The experience of the 

 older growers is that the three to five- 

 foot trees come out better than the higher 

 trees. Often the tree is small through be- 

 ing stunted. Such a tree will seldom re- 

 cuperate and should be thrown out at 

 once. This also applies to the orchard, 

 and where one is noticed growing very 

 slowly it should be immediately replaced 



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