The record-union., 1894-06-20
FARM And ORCHARD.
Grating and Budding Fruit Trees
How and When to Do it.
Pruning the French Prune Trees-The
Practice Most in Vogue-Frank
Buxton's Experience.

EDS. RECORD UNION: Can you inform
me when and how to graft and bud fruit
trees, and what kind?
A CONSTANT READER.
We cannot do better for our CORE
spondent than to publish the following
essay delivered by Z. A. Bonine of La
manda Park before the Pomological Soci-
ETY. held at Pasadena last month
My paper is to amateur orchardists
rather than to practical nurserymen. 1t
relates to working over old trees more
than to young ones. First, have had
great difficulty in keeping my sclons dor
lnant III the spring. l have buried Lneln
in damp sand in the cellar and In damp
earth north OF building. the latter prov
ing the best. Scions from Lhe East or
North are apt to start growing almost as
soon as they arrive and l would advise
waiting until March before ordering and
insert as soon as received. l find 1t Is
best 10 have your trees active; that is,
the buds beginning to swell when you
graft; If grated while the stock is dor
nlant your scions may dry out. l find
pears, apples, plumS and prunes graft
easily; apricots, peaches and the citrus
family l prefer to bud. PreSumlng you
have an apricot 10 work over, saw of the
limbs TO within a foot or two where your
tree branches, the shorter measure the
better. Do this IN winter when your tree
is dormant. When ready TO graft saw oil
the ends. brushing off the saYdust with
Sink brush, and paint, using color the
shade OF the bark. Shoots will grow all
over your stock and when they are ten
inches long select such as are situated
best for branches and remove the re-
malnder but retain more than you desire
for some may be broken OF by the wind.
Never retain a shoot growing out at the
Osa1 cat 4 4xNFf xrrsl sfnp a
by the wind-but leave them down from
the end an inch or more.
Pinch the ends off of your young
growth on the tree you desire to take
your buds from the latter part Of May or
first of June. This viii cause your buds
TO harden and mature; then during the
middle or latter part OF July you can IN
sert your buds. AS soon as you bud cut
OF your young shoot twelve or eighteen
inches above the bud; If you fail to DO this
the sap will accumulate so fast under the
bud that it viii not join. Ii your tree is
thrifty land it should be or IL had better
be dug upl the buds will grow. l have
apricots growing on my ranch on buds
inserted last July. l ind 1t is as well TO
cut OF all the top as only part. As soon
as your bud grows eight Or ten inches
pinch the top TO make IL branch; this will
prevent injury by wind TO your bud, the
pinching retards the flow OF sap and al
lows the wood to harden. The wind
blows less buds off than gratis. l find it
wise, after your buds have grown couple
OF feet, TO take baling rope and run it
around the tree, say foot above where
the buds are inserted; this prevents dam
age to the limbs by wind. l sometimes
leave the rope on a year or more, or until
the growth becomes woody and strong.
l lind there are but few varieties that
will cross successfully = to illustrate,
fnaFQ fFnIfS that DA hlQ-
ded or grated on the apricot successfully;
most plums do not do well. Ii is Suici-
dai to bud prunes on apricot roots. bud
ding at the ground, and yet have sew
eraI aprlcots top grated TO Tragedy ana
French prunes that are doing well.
had a number of Botan plum trees, and
could not dispose of the fruit; l grated
them to prune, peach and apricots. The
prunes grew like bad weeds the early
part OF the season ana then became dor
mant. The peach root and the Botan de-
sired to grow the latter part of the season
and the prune didn't, and they all died
together-the prune had grown four or
five feet in the spring. IallOwed some of
the peaches to grow the second season to
see the result. but they made sickly
growth and / dug them up; the apricots
are not doing Well-there was not more
than eight or ten inches of the Botan in
the tree. / find the Japan plums gener-
ally do best grated on our native or
Chickasaw plum stock, though l have
Kelsey top grated on apricot, and have
seen Kelseys on peach doing well.
I place a two-quart can, containing a
small amount of water, in my budding
basket, and keep my sciOns in it while
budding or grating. 1t is surprising to
find how few varieties of saps have an
affinity for each other. The idea that all
of the stone fruits viii successfully bud
NfL 10 folluainnS. n fa AZ
very few will.
Referring TO the apricot, after the bud
has joined unwrap the budding twine
(but do not be in q hurry, then wait
week to see that it has joined thoroughly,
and gradually cut back your shoot and
get a growth Immediately. You cannot
do this with the peach unless you can
keep you last years buds. find the sap
keeps flowing to the ends of the limbs of
some varieties after cutting Off but
peaches and apricots have tendency to
die. Should you iusert two scions in
horizontal limb, and only the lower scion
grow (it often happens), the upper part of
the limb dies and leaves weak place in
the tree, therefore 1 find it best to cut the
limbs as short as possible. 1t is not neces-
sary TO bind up the stocks of the apple
pear or apricot to prevent sun burn on the
south side of the tree; but it is always
necessary to wrap the peach.
PRUNING THE PRUNE.
The latest contribution to the rapidly
accommodating literature on how to prune
the French prune is by Frank Buxton,
formerly of Santa Clara County, and now
a resident Of Tulare. In answer to
question, Mr.. Buxton gives the CdIlfor-
MA CuItiUatOY his experience and OBJ
servation on the subject as follows:
Since the commencement of the prune
industry in the Santa Clara Valley,
every method OF pruning that could pos
sibly be conceived has been tried in the
various prune orchards, and, in many
instances, in different rows OF the same
orchard, where the merits and dement's
of the various methods could be more
readily compared.
For many years the practice most in
vogue was to form the head of the prune
tree knee-high from the ground, and
each successive winter cut back two
thirds OF the previous summers growth.
This was the stereotyped plan, and most
OF the older prune orchards OF the Santa
Clara Valley have grown by this method.
Some seven or eight years ago l COM
menced the practice of letting the canes
grow without any pruning on trees that
had been cut back for the first four years
OF their growth and q symmetrical head
or basis for head established. 1t was
departure from established rules, and
was freely criticised and commented on.
The method gradually commented itself,
for many and various reasons and was
adopted by one orchardist after another,
until al the present time il is the COM
monty accepted method practiced in the
young prune orchards of Santa Clara
County.
In the first year it is my practice to
start the head quite near the ground
within foot or so. For the second year
no specific instructions can be given.