ons, and
to report their results at later N.N.G.A. meetings. We do not expect
these methods to work equally well in all parts of the United States and
Canada represented here today, but they are giving promising results in
the mid-South territory, and perhaps will have value in a wider area. As
Mr. Davidson has so ably done at this meeting in the case of his Ohio
plantings, we expect to give you a follow-up report on this work in west
Tennessee at the Toronto meeting or later.
"Twin-T" Budding in Chestnut Propagation
Of the nut trees grown in this area, the chestnut has been the most
difficult to propagate by budding. Nurseries in the upper South have
propagated their pecan and walnut trees mostly by patch-budding or the
similar ring-budding method, with very good success. When applied to
chestnuts, patch-buds have seldom grown. The common T-bud, likewise, has
been a general failure on chestnuts in America, though reported
successful in Japan. Chip-buds have not been much-better.
Several years ago, Dr. Max B. Hardy told me that the inlay bark-graft
had been used successfully with Chinese chestnuts at the U.S.D.A,
laboratory in Albany, Ga., following Dr. B. G. Sitton's use of this
method with pecans in Louisiana. (It is described in a bulletin from
Michigan State College, East Lansing, Mich.) I tried it in a small way,
and had some success using it on chestnuts in July and August. This
spring I suggested it to Mr. Roark and Dr. Richards, both of whom tried
it out, using Castanea mollissima stocks and various scion varieties.
Mr. Roark used the inlay bark-graft in the spring, topworking a C.
mollissima seedling with scions of the Colossal, a hybrid variety from
California. About 50 per cent of these have grown this year. Dr.
Richards tried it during July, on C. mollissima seedlings from a
different source. None of the Colossal would grow on his trees, but he
was partially successful with scions of the C. mollissima varieties,
Hobson, Carr and Zimmerman. He then devised a variation in the method
which was highly successful with C. mollissima varieties. This I shall
call the Richards "Twin-T" bud.
In "Twin-T" budding, a vertical slit is made in the bark of the stock.
Then horizontal cuts are made through the bark at both top and bottom of
the vertical cut. The bud piece is cut from the well matured part of a
current season's twig, leaving a rather thick slice of wood beneath the
bud. (It may be as thick as half
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