22 



THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



lhat the work could not be done successfully. That this is without 

 foundation is shown by the many trees in various parts- of the State, 

 notably Santa Clara Valley, the vicinity of Vacaville. the vicinity of 

 Santa Rosa and others, where roadside trees and small orchards have 

 been worked over at various times, running back as far as 1893 at Vaca- 

 ville and 1891 at San Jose. Some of these trees now have a spread of 

 branches of 60 feet. 



The average seedling walnut orchard is not satisfactorv for several 

 reasons ; the nuts are uneven in size and form, the treas are not equally 

 productive, and are largely subject to blight. It may be said that about 

 one quarter the trees produce but few walnuts, another quarter produce 

 about enough to pay their own expenses, leaving the other half to make 

 whatever profit is obtained. This will be entirely changed when the 

 entire orchard is of grafted trees, grown from scions that came from 

 resistant trees that produce large crops. Each tree will then produce 

 nuts like every other tree, and if the selection of nursery stock has been 

 properly done, the trees will be very uniform in all respects. 



Several styles of grafting have been practiced and all have had a fair 

 degree of success, but modifications of the cleft graft have been most 

 generally used, each operator making changes as he thought best. If 

 the trees are from three to five inches in diameter they may be cut off 

 at about four feet above the ground and below the branches, then four 

 or five scions may be placed in one stock, or three or four of the branches 

 may be cut back to within 10 to 24 inches of the trunk and two or three 

 scions placed in each. All the other branches should be removed from 

 the trunk. Old trees of from twelve to twenty years should have the 

 branches cut at places where they are from three to six inches in 

 diameter and from five to eight stubs left, which will be from three to 

 six feet in length, and should have a.s many as six scions in the large 

 stubs, the other branches being removed before the scions are put in 

 place. 



The method used in my orchard near Anaheim, which was very suc- 

 cessful, is as folloAvs : just before the nuts Avere ready to gather last fall 

 the orchard was gone over, the trees that were non-producers and those 

 that did not produce paying crops, as well as those producing small or 

 badly shaped nuts, were marked so they could be distinguished later. 

 The object in marking was to do the grafting on trees that were of no 

 commercial value, and to keep up the production of walnuts to an 

 amount equal to that of other years. Having determined the trees to 

 be grafted, the operator marks the stubs that are to be left by a small 

 notch out of the bark at the place where the cut is to be made. All 

 other branches are cut close to the trunk of the tree. Several trees are 

 marked while the assistant is preparing the first tree. The operator 

 places the scions, and the assistant follows with hot wax, covering all 

 cuts on both scion and stock. In cutting large branches it is necessary 

 to make two cuts, the first being some distance outside the final cut, to 

 prevent splitting the stub or the trunk. The scions should always be 

 of solid, mature wood, that is, with as small pith as can be had readily, 

 and must have good living buds. They should be about one quarter inch 

 in diameter and have at least two buds. The growth having buds close 

 together is best, as shorter scions can be used which do not require so 



