four or five years from grafting. At the present time this
failure can only be attributed to the fact that the stocks were of mixed
ancestry. On the other hand, scions of pure _C. mollissima_ placed on
the same stock strains have made good unions and are entirely normal
after as long as 13 years from grafting. This problem of incompatibility
between stock and scion is one that yet remains to be completely solved.
The topworking of trees in the five-acre block at Philema has been
generally successful where incompatibility is not a problem.
Bearing-size trees topworked one spring will generally produce a few
nuts in the second subsequent growing-season. Growth the first year
after grafting will frequently be as much as 12 feet long and very
stocky. Both cleft grafting and inlay bark grafting have been practiced,
the latter method proving to be the more satisfactory from all
standpoints. In this method of grafting scaffold limbs from 1 to 6
inches in diameter are cut off square across. Scions 6 to 8 inches long
are prepared by making a slanting cut 2 to 3 inches long and ending
about three-fourths through the scion at its basal end. A strip of bark
just wide and long enough to receive the scion, with about one-half of
the upper end of the bevel showing above the cut surface of the stub, is
then removed from the stub. The scion is then nailed into place with
5/8-inch nails and painted over with melted grafting wax. Two or three
scions are required for most stubs. This work is done just as growth is
starting in the spring and the bark is slipping well. The scions may
generally be cut directly from the trees, but sometimes they may need to
be cut several days earlier and stored in damp material in a
refrigerator to keep them dormant.
In south Georgia the Chinese chestnut normally begins growth soon after
March 1, but in some years it has started as much as a month after this
date. Between south and north Georgia there is a differential in the
time growth starts in the spring of one to two weeks. This differential
also carries over into the date of blossoming and the date the harvest
period begins. In south Georgia pollination generally occurs during the
latter part of April and early part of May, and the harvest period
begins about 100 days later. The peak of harvest averages 185 days after
the initiation of growth in the spring. Dormancy comes only after the
first frost sufficiently heavy to kill the leaves, usually about
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