TOP-WORKING FRUIT TREES 
7 
to thin V-shaped grooves with a saddler’s knife. The cion is then 
trimmed to fit, driven firmly into place and waxed as in cleft-grafting. 
With a little practice the cions may be set as firmly as in cleft-graft¬ 
ing. It is claimed that this method has the advantage in speed and 
that the cions are not as easily blown out in early summer. Cions 
are lost by both methods and if properly performed, one is prob¬ 
ably as good as the other. It does have the advantage in that more 
cions may be set in large stubs and thus hasten the process of heal¬ 
ing. The same care must be used in setting the cion to insure a 
union. The latter system seems especially adapted to working with 
stone fruits where splitting is even more noticeable than in the apple 
and pear. Sharp tools which give a smooth cut surface are es¬ 
sential in all grafting work. 
Bark-Grafting. Some advocate another method of grafting known 
as bark-grafting. In this case, the stub is cut as before, the cion is cut 
with a long bevel on one side and slipped between the bark and sap- 
wood. It is generally necessary to slit the bark at the point of in¬ 
sertion and very often the bark is removed from the base of the 
cion up to the top of the sloping cut. The stub is bound with waxed 
string or other material, to hold the cions firmly and it is then waxed 
as in the cleft-grafted stub. The system really has no advantages 
over the others, unless when compared with cleft-grafting in work¬ 
ing large stubs. 
Terminal-Grafting. Another style of grafting sometimes em¬ 
ployed is that known as terminal-grafting. This work is generally 
done in the latter part of June or just as soon as new growth that has 
matured enough to show a terminal bud may be secured. On old 
trees, such wood may be found in June. A twig that has completed its 
growth may be picked out by the presence of a well-formed terminal 
bud at the tip and full grown, or practically full-grown terminal 
leaves. The cions are cut three or four inches long and the leaves 
practically all trimmed off. There are different ways of inserting 
the cion. The most common method is to cut a vertical slit in the 
bark of the stock, trim the lower end of the cion with a long sloping 
cut on one side, and then slip it under the bark at an angle of about 
45 degrees with the slit. The cut surface of the cion should rest 
upon the wood of the stock. It is not necessary to wrap or even 
wax the wound. 
The cions start into growth the same season but the top of the 
stock is left until the following spring. The method seems to work 
well. It may prove a practical way of supplying lower limbs on 
young trees headed too high. When one neglects to remove the top 
when such grafting is done in the lower part of old trees, these cions 
readily form fruiting wood, generally bearing the third season. It 
is a suggestion that it would be the proper course to take as a means 
of getting specimens of new varieties in the shortest length of time. 
CHOOSING THE: STUBS 
There is much to be gained by the proper selection of stubs 
into which cions are to be set. A too common practice is to remove 
the whole top the first year and graft all the stubs. It is surprising 
