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Vox,.  LX  XV. 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
NEW  YORK.  APRIL  S.  1016. 
Single  Copie*,  Five  Cents 
Xo.  4372. 
Top-working  Young  Apple  Trees 
Ben  Davis  a  Good  Stock 
1  am  planning;  1 1 .  set  out  an  orchard  this  Spring  and 
ash  vour  advice  about  buying  Ren  Davis  trees  (two 
years  old),  grafting  to  varieties  next  year  that  I  want, 
as  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  trees  from  nurserymen 
that  run  true  to  ordered  goods.  I  thought  if  this  was 
a  good  plan  it  would  save  waiting  several  years  to  find 
just  what  kind  of  trees  I  really  got.  c.  X.  A. 
Cuyahoga  Co.,  O. 
GOOD  PLAN. — It  is  indeed  quite  a  satisfaction 
when  caring  I'm*  a  young  orchard  to  know  that 
the  trees  arc  exactly  what  their  labels  or  our  plant¬ 
ing  records  indicate  them  to  he.  The  satisfaction  is 
increased  until  it  becomes  a  peculiar  pleasure  when 
we  actually  know  the  parentage  of  each  tree.  The 
plan  of  planting  apple  trees  of  some  vigorous,  hardy 
variety  and  the  next  year  top-grafting  these  with 
scions  from  bearing  trees  of  varieties  ol'  known  ex¬ 
cellence,  is  one  that  has  for  some  years  appealed 
very  favorably  to  the  writer-  We  have  300  or  400 
four-year-old  Crimes,  Jonathan.  Stay  man.  Eusee  and 
Delicious  growing  on  Ren  Davis  bodies.  We  also 
have  young,  prolific,  hearing  heads  of  Stark,  Flush¬ 
ing  Spitzenburg,  McIntosh.  Ingram.  King  David  and 
a  number  of  other  varieties  flourishing  on  the 
“shoulders’’  of  a  lot  of  Missouri  Pippins  planted  15 
or  more  years  ago  before  we  were  personally  fam¬ 
iliar  with  its  small  size  and  poor  quality  for  our 
section.  Still  older  heads  of  Crimes,  Sutton,  Jon¬ 
athan,  Linville  and  other  varieties  worked  on  bodies 
of  Lankford  over  20  years  ago.  have  been  bearing 
fine,  regular,  heavy  crops  for  many  years.  Hence  we 
know  that  the  plan  of  top-working  desirable  va¬ 
rieties  from  trees  of  known  purity  and  prolificacy  is 
entirely  practicable  and  distinctly  pleasing  in  a  num¬ 
ber  of  ways. 
METHOD  OF  WORKING.— In  order  to  he  suc- 
' -css fill  in  top-working  young  trees  there  aye  a  num¬ 
ber  of  details  to  he  carefully  observed.  And  in  en¬ 
deavoring  h.icfly  to  describe  our  method  of  doing 
this  work  it  is  hoped  these  more  important  points 
may  he  touched  upon  in  such  a  way  that  they  may 
he  readily  comprehended:  For  top-working  one  year 
from  the  time  of  planting  well-grown,  heavy  two- 
year-old  trees  are  quite  suitable;  but  we  have  been 
especially  pleased  with  proportionately  well  grown, 
heavy  three-year-olds  for  Ibis  purpose,  as  the  larger 
diameter  of  their  bodies  renders  the  grafting  more 
readily  and  securely  accomplished.  True,  I  am  ad¬ 
vised  by  various  authorities  that  three-year-old 
apple  trees  are  not  as  suitable  for  planting  as  two- 
year  or  one-year  trees;  but  in  considerable  exper¬ 
ience  the  three-year  trees,  if  freshly  and  carefully 
dug.  have  done  excellently  for  us,  and  such  trees 
would  he  my  first  choice  for  the  purpose  tinder  con¬ 
sideration.  As  a  rule  nurserymen  are  so  glad  to 
close  out  surplus  three-year  trees  that  they  will 
make  a  price  as  low  as,  or  lower  than  that  at  which 
two-vear  trees  are  selling.  Some  of  the  finest  trees 
A  Short  Scion  Delicious  on  Ben  Davis  Stock,  60  Days  From 
Grafting.  Fig.  203 
I  have  ever  planted  were  among  carefully  selected 
three-year-olds  set  for  top-working,  and  were  pur¬ 
chased  at  the  same  price  asked  for  two-year  trees 
at  the  same  nursery.  Trees  of  Ben  Davis,  North¬ 
western  Creeuing  and  Mammoth  Black  Twig  afford 
r 
excellent  stocks  for  top-grafting. 
THE  SCIONS.- — The  usual  practice  is  to  cut 
scions  while  the  trees  are  perfectly  dormant  in  late 
Fall  or  early  Winter,  pack  them  in  slightly  moist 
moss  or  sawdust,  and  store  in  a  cool  cellar.  This 
is.  of  course,  a  safe  plan,  and  is  the  one  generally 
followed  when  scions  are  secured  from  a  distance; 
hut  we  have  had  most  excellent  results  with  scions 
cut  from  our  own  trees  just  as  tile  buds  are  be¬ 
ginning  to  swell  in  early  Spring,  and  grafted  direct¬ 
ly  into  the  stocks.  In  all  of  our  recent  top- wo  ."king 
we  have  used  grafting  wood  from  our  own  hearing 
Fruitful  Young  Stark  on  Missouri  Pippin  Body.  Fig.  204 
trees,  which  enables  us  to  avail  ourselves  of  the 
plan  not  generally  mentioned  or  advised — perhaps 
not  generally  known — of  using  long  scions.  Ry  using 
scions  from  12  to  In  inches  in  length,  grafted  into 
a  low-cut  four-year-old  slock  we  gain  the  special 
advantage  claim,  d  by  various  authorities  for  one- 
year  trees,  viz.,  that  of  having  a  considerable  length 
of  new  wood  well  set  with  strong  buds  from  which 
we  may  select  and  retain  such  new  shoot-  as  will 
form  front  well  distributed  branches  an  unerowded. 
well-balanced  head.  My  personal  experience  with 
these  long  scions  is  that  they  grow  equally  as  readily 
as  the  shorter  ones:  and  line,  spreading,  symmetrical 
heads  of  surprising  size  are  generally  produced  tin* 
first  year  from  the  scions. 
RREDARIXG  THE  STOCK. — Where  we  use  long 
scions  we  cut  away  the  tops  of  the  young  trees  at 
the  height  of  about  IN  inches  from  the  ground,  using 
a  fine-tooth  saw  and  making  the  cut  at  a  sharp  an¬ 
gle  instead  of  squarely  across  the  stock.  The  slop¬ 
ing  cut  leaves  a  wound  that  heals  much  more  readily 
than  tin*  square  cut.  Then,  with  a  sharp  knife,  the 
upper  extremity  of  the  stock  is  cut  squarely  off  just 
far  enough  down  from  the  point  to  leave  a  fiat, 
shoulder,  the  least  diameter  of  which  corresponds 
to  the  diameter  of  the  scion  to  he  used.  The  long 
side  of  the  stock  is  then  split  or  “cleft"  with  u  small 
grafting  chisel,  the  prepared  scion  inserted  and  the 
whole  wound  waxed  over.  A  second  distinct  ad¬ 
vantage  of  the  sloping  cut  is  that  only  the  long  side  of 
the  stock  need  he  split — the  cleft  rarely  extending 
so  far  through  as  to  hurst  tin*  hark  on  the  short  side. 
SKILL  REQUIRED.- — It  would  he  a  great  risk  for 
one  who  has  had  hut  little  practice,  and  is  not 
skilled  in  Hie  process  of  grafting,  to  undertake  the 
task  of  top-working  an  orchard  of  young  trees  from 
which  the  tops  are  to  be  entirely  cut  away  and  but 
a  single  scion  used.  A  vigorous,  uniform  stand  of 
grafts  is  no  less  desirable  than  a  uniform  stand  of 
trees  at.  the  outset  of  planting  the  orchard.  With 
larger  trees,  where  various  side  branches  are  avail¬ 
able  for  the  insertion  of  a  number  of  scions,  a  be¬ 
ginner  may  succeed  fairly  wcdl.  as  he  thus  has  more 
scope  for  practice,  while  a  blunder  and  failure  here 
and  there  will  not  prove  of  serious  consequence. 
Rut  with  only  a  single  stem  and  a  single  scion  the 
workman  should  be  possessed  of  sufficient  skill  to 
insure  a  high  percentage  of  growth  of  scions.  Un¬ 
fortunately.  too,  men  really  .skilled  in  grafting  are 
difficult,  as  a  rule,  to  secure. 
RISKS  INVOLVED. — There  are  few  plans  or 
methods  in  horticulture,  or  in  dny  other  calling,  in 
which  there  are  not  certain  drawbacks  or  dangers 
to  he  encountered.  In  the  top-working  of  young 
trees  we  find  no  exception  to  this  rule.  Hi  the 
writer’s  experience  there  are  three  dangers  to  which 
the  young  trees  are  subject,  which  deserve  especial 
mention : 
( 1  >  The  danger  of  inoculation  of  the  stock  or 
scion  with  fire-blight  in  the  process  of  grafting. 
This  danger  may  he  much  lessened  by  sterilizing  tin* 
grafting-tools  after  each  tree  is  grafted,  by  wiping 
them  with  a  cloth  moistened  with  a  weak  solution  of 
carbolic  acid. 
(2)  The  danger  of  heavy  birds  alighting  on  the 
stocks  before  the  scions  have  become  established, 
thereby  breaking  them  off  or  forcing  them  out  of  the 
cleft  of  the  stock.  Crows  are  usually  the  more  ser¬ 
ious  offenders  in  this  respect. 
(3)  Heavy  windstorms  during  the  first  growing 
season,  which  easily  break  off  the  tender,  rapidly- 
growing  gratis  before  they  have  become  firmly  knit 
to  the  stocks.  These  losses  arc  rather  more  dis¬ 
couraging  than  the  two  previously  named,  as  they 
usually  occur  on  the  very  finest  trees,  whose  splen¬ 
did  new  growth  presents  a  proportionate  leverage 
for  the  wind  to  d<»  its  work. 
Dangers  mentioned  in  2  and  3  may  l»t*  effectively 
guarded  against  by  driving  a  small,  light  strip  of 
wood  about  four  feet  in  length,  close  down  beside 
each  tree  so  that  it  will  he  in  direct  contact  with 
the  stock.  Plastering  lath  sharpened  at  one  end 
serves  very  nicely.  These  strips  of  wood  prevent 
birds  from  alighting  on  the  stock,  while  the  growing 
graft,  during  the  first  season,  ruay  readily  he  tied  to 
the  lath  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  the  wind  from 
breaking  it  loose  from  the  stock.  After  the  first 
season  there  is  little  danger  either  from  heavy  birds 
or  strong  winds.  f.  h.  baixou. 
Ohio  Experiment  Station. 
Utilizing  Carcasses  as  Fertilizer 
Tell  us  of  some  quick  and  easy  way  of  utilizing  car¬ 
casses — mostly  horses — for  fertilizer.  v.  m. 
HERE  seems  to  he  no  quick  or  easy  way  of 
working  up  dead  horses  or  other  carcasses  as 
a  fertilizer.  Even  with  the  best,  of  machinery  and 
facilities  the  process  is  expensive,  and  the  fertilizer 
dealers  do  not  seem  to  think  there  is  much  margin 
in  the  operation.  Where  there  are  only  a  few 
Long  Scion  Stayman  on  Ben  Davis  Body,  60  Days  From 
Grafting.  Fig.  205 
