ge number "bleed" or run sap very
freely and this may continue several days, flooding and injuring the
scion, and exhausting the vitality of the stock. This condition was
especially noticeable the past spring, due presumably, to the lateness
of the growing season. Making provision for the exit of the surplus sap
was usually sufficient in the lower south and, we believed, would be
farther north, but with the stronger flow of sap this is not sufficient
in the northern states, at least some seasons. An examination of grafts,
set on stocks which have bled freely after having been grafted, shows
that the stock callouses very slowly, if at all, and the scion, unless
it be of very heavy, solid wood, becomes dark colored and sour and the
wood soon dies in the cleft, although the scion above this point may
remain green for weeks. I am not able, at this time, to give any
specific remedy for the correction of this trouble for the reason that I
have not worked it out to my own satisfaction as yet, but now that we
understand the trouble better, I feel sure that we will be able to
correct it in the manipulation of the stocks before they are grafted.
Keeping the new growth off the stocks may be found to be sufficient in
most seasons, if the grafting is done rather late, but I am of the
opinion that a rather severe cutting back of the stocks a few days
before they are grafted, if the grafting is done early, will be found
the best practice. For later grafting, my opinion is that two or three
cuttings, say a week apart, will be better. Root pruning, where it can
be practiced to advantage, will be found more effective still. I have
never known newly transplanted stocks or those which had the tree digger
run under them, to bleed freely when grafted, and we have sometimes
gotten a good stand of grafts on such stocks, but such stocks may not
always have sufficient sap for the best results in grafting, if they
have been recently transplanted or root pruned. Fall planted As a
matter of experiment, I want to try budding both the pecan and walnut by
this method the present season, but I don't expect any results from
walnut buds set in this way. For the information of those who may wish
to try this method the present season, I will say that we cut the
shagbark buds a little heavier than we cut apple or pear buds. The wood
was left in the bud. The bark on the stock was split and the buds
inserted just as in any other shield budding. The buds were wr