of my method used for thirty years constantly
with only slight changes from the beginning. Any man who has had any
experience knows that it is important that scionwood should be carefully
kept, that it should not be kept in air so dry that the bark would
shrivel to any appreciable extent, or, on the other hand, a still worse
condition, where it is so damp that the bark will loosen and the buds
start.

It is difficult enough in nut tree grafting to obtain reasonably fair
success with the scions in perfect condition, where used in late spring,
and it is something of a heart breaking proposition to try it with poor
scionwood. To the nurseryman, with his winter grafting of fruit trees,
the keeping of the scionwood long enough for his purpose in the cold of
the winter season is no problem at all. It can be stacked in a pile in
any cool cellar (not too wet) and covered over with leaves and blankets,
or what not, and it is all O. K. for that period. It is a far different
matter to hold small amounts of wood absolutely dormant through the
changing conditions from winter to summer, and perhaps as greatly
changed conditions of moisture through several months. And how shall
this best be accomplished?

Ice house conditions are not, I think, generally very satisfactory. The
right cold storage facilities might be satisfactory, but not readily
accessible to most of us. I used to use boxes in the cellar, with
careful packing with forest leaves and somewhat careful attention to
moisture conditions, with penalties for lax attention always enforced.

I know one nurseryman who, beside the regular nursery fruit tree
grafting scion wood, kept many scions of nut trees. He had a deep
outdoor cellar, or cave, which was always cool and not too dry. In this,
in large boxes of sawdust, he kept his scions for spring use. Just how
much attention as regards moisture conditions he had to give this I do
not know, but through his knowledge and experience with it I think his
scions were usually in good condition.

Now I will quote to you on the care of scions from J. F. Jones' paper on
"The Propagation of Nut Trees" in the 1927 Report of the Annual Meeting
of the Northern Nut Growers Association, page 104:

"It is not in the selection of scions that the beginner usually
fails to make his grafting a success, but in handling the scions.
Scions for grafting need not to be put in cold storage. In fact
cold storage at the usual tempe