8 
COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION 
that some good results come from such a practice. More often, 
however, this proves too much for the tree and it fails even after 
the grafts have made a good start. They may linger two or three 
years and then die from no other cause than the severe cutting back, 
though the growers are prone to attribute it to some other affliction. 
The cutting away of the greater part of the top seems to give good 
results and may even be advisable in top-working stone fruits. The 
pear will stand much more abuse in this respect than the apple. A 
far better plan in all cases, is to cut away only enough limbs to set 
cions for a good top. This will generally be about half of the tree, 
as six stubs will, in most cases, provide for a good top. The work¬ 
ing of more stubs results in too dense a top or necessitates their re¬ 
moval later. The remaining limbs may be shortened but some foliage 
is needed to protect the stubs and trunk from sun-scald as well as 
to supply nourishment. If the stubs are well chosen the remaining 
limbs will do much to protect the young grafts from wind and es¬ 
pecially from being brushed out by passing teams and orchard ma¬ 
chinery. It is well to choose inside limbs for grafting as they are 
best protected, but care must be taken not to contract the head of 
the tree too much. It should be borne in mind that top-worked trees 
tend to grow upright, but it is a difficulty which may be largely 
overcome by judicious pruning. 
After the cions have made one year’s growth much of the re¬ 
maining top may be removed, but it should seldom all be removed 
from old trees before the second year. If some stubs have met 
with accidents or have failed to start the cions, or if the shape of the 
tree or a scarcity of scaffold limbs has 
prevented a full top being placed the 
first spring, it may be completed the 
second. 
While we sometimes see grafts 
doing nicely in stubs six inches in 
diameter, it is very doubtful whether 
such grafts will make a strong union 
or a long-lived tree. The wisdom of 
working limbs over three inches in 
diameter is to be doubted. In the 
choosing of stubs the grafter should 
remember that large wounds properly 
made, heal more readily than large 
stubs. Choose the smaller limbs for 
grafting even though the later removal 
of the top may necessitate the cutting 
of larger limbs lower down. It is 
better to raise the head of the tree than 
to work large stubs. Fig. 5 showing 
a two-year-old top on a pear tree will 
illustrate this point; notice the large 
Fig. 5. Snowing proper se- wounds below the grafted stubs, 
lection of stubs. 
