163 



THE AET 0? 



Remarks. — Shield-budding close to the ground is to be 

 preferred when the stock or branch is a year old ; a month 

 before grafting, the branches about the part to be budded 

 should be. cut away. The other branches of the young almond 

 stock should be tied together at the time of grafting. In the 

 plum quarters of the nursery which have been grafted with 

 varieties of plums any grafts which have missed may be 

 replaced by a variety of almonds, unless it is desired to try 

 the original plum graft a second time. The appearance of the 

 trees is so different that a mistake cannot be made when the 

 time comes for transplanting them. 



Chinese Plum— Amy gdalop sis. 



Stock. — Plum-tree (from seed) and the Myrobalan plum (from 

 cuttings). The scion is not so long-lived on the almond-tree. 

 Mode of Grafting. — Shield-budding (in summer) ; close to the 

 ground or as standards. 



Remarks. — Always graft rather late in the season, using the 

 St. Julien plum-tree as a stock for the subjects first grafted, 

 and the Myrobalan plum for the later ones. For low standards, 

 stocks of small diameter should be selected ; shield-budding 

 succeeds well on cuttings struck in the previous spring. If 

 the sap is over-abundant, the bud should be inserted in a 

 reversed incision, and the branches of the stock trimmed and 

 shortened. For grafting on the stem, stocks of medium size 

 are to be preferred. A thick stock should be shield-budded on 

 its young side -branches. Of these two kinds of ornamental 

 plum-trees, the Chinese plum succeeds best when branch- 

 grafted, and the Amygdalopsis (also called Prunus triloba and 

 P. japonica) when bud-grafted. The young shoots of the graft 

 should be pinched as soon as they have grown a foot long ; 

 this will cause them to branch, and they will also flower longer 

 in consequence. 



