Part 9 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 66.

To make a root graft, cut along the slanting line]

The best time to make this graft is when scion and stock are dormant, that is, when they are not in leaf. During the winter, say in February, is the best time to graft the tree. Set the grafted tree away again in damp sand until spring, then plant it in loose, rich soil.

Since all parts growing above the graft will be of the same kind as the scion, while all branches below it will be like the stock, it is well to graft low on the stock or even upon the root itself. The slanting double line in Fig. 66 shows the proper place to cut off for such grafting.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 67. A COMPLETED ROOT GRAFT]

If you like you may sometime make the interesting and valuable experiment of grafting scions from various kinds of apple trees on the branches of one stock. In this way you can secure a tree bearing a number of kinds of fruit. You may thus raise the Bonum, Red Astrachan, Winesap, and as many other varieties of apples as you wish, upon one tree. For this experiment, however, you will find it better to resort to _cleft grafting_, which is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 68.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 68. CLEFT GRAFTING]

Luther Burbank, the originator of the Burbank potato, in attempting to find a variety of apple suited to the climate of California, grafted more than five hundred kinds of apple scions on one tree, so that he might watch them side by side and find out which kind was best suited to that state.

SECTION XXIII. BUDDING

If, instead of an apple tree, you were raising a plum or a peach tree, a form of propagation known as _budding_ would be better than grafting.

Occasionally budding is also employed for apples, pears, cherries, oranges, and lemons. Budding is done in the following manner. A single bud is cut from the scion and is then inserted under the bark of a one-year-old peach seedling, so that the cambium of the bud and stock may grow together.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 69. HOW TO CUT A BUD FROM A SCION]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 70. THE STEPS IN BUDDING]

Cut scions of the kind of fruit tree you desire from a one-year-old twig of the same variety. Wrap them in a clean, moist cloth until you are ready to use them. Just before using cut the bud from the scion, as shown in Fig. 69. This bud is now ready to be inserted on the north side of the stock, just two or three inches above the ground. The north side is selected to avoid the sun. Now, as shown at _a_ in Fig. 70, make a cross and an up-and-down incision, or cut, on the stock; pull the bark back carefully, as shown in _B_; insert the bud _C_, as shown in _D_; then fold the bark back and wrap with yarn or raffia, as shown in _E_.

As soon as the bud and branches have united, remove the wrapping to prevent its cutting the bark and cut the tree back close to the bud, as in Fig. 71, so as to force nourishment into the inserted bud.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 71.

Sloping line shows where to cut tree]

Budding is done in the field without disturbing the tree as it stands in the ground. The best time to do budding is during the summer or fall months, when the bark is loose enough to allow the buds to be easily inserted.

Trees may be budded or grafted on one another only when they are nearly related. Thus the apple, crab-apple, hawthorn, and quince are all related closely enough to graft or bud on one another; the pear grows on some hawthorns, but not well on an apple; some chestnuts will unite with some kinds of oaks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 72.

Lines show where to trim]

By using any of these methods you can succeed in getting with certainty the kind of tree that you desire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOTH BUSY STORING APPLES]

SECTION XXIV. PLANTING AND PRUNING

The apple tree that you grafted should be set out in the spring. Dig a hole three or four feet in diameter where you wish the tree to grow.

Place the tree in the hole and be very careful to preserve all the fine roots. Spread the roots out fully, water them, and pack fine, rich soil firmly about them. Place stakes about the young tree to protect it from injury. If the spot selected is in a windy location, incline the tree slightly toward the prevailing wind.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 73.

Present shape comes from pruning]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 74.