y, or he may not rejoice at all." In March there were about
ten or twelve alive. In June about nine were alive, and now these also
have failed to grow. Last year I knew just how to bud walnuts. This last
Fourth of July I was very humble.

For some reason or other we have not all the facts. We can propagate
splendidly one year, and the next year we have a fall-down. Mr. Roper,
of one of the pioneer nurseries, said he had 2,000 fine live walnut buds
last fall, and had but 500 this spring, and not one of them grew. While
the technique seems to be simple, there seems to be something lacking in
our experience. I will ask Mr. Littlepage to give us his confessions
first.

MR. LITTLEPAGE: The proposition of topworking is one of the
schemes where art beats nature. In the fight in Congress over the
oleomargarine bill some years ago, one member who favored it, said in
support of his contention, that nature always beat art; and one of his
opponents immediately referred him to a picture gallery near, where
pictures of the statesmen were exhibited, as a proof that art sometimes
beats nature. In top working, art improves upon nature.

The first thing to be considered is what is topworking, and then the
logical question, why topworking. Possibly this should come first. If an
individual is dissatisfied with his friends and neighbors, he must put
up with them; he cannot change them. But if he is dissatisfied with a
nut tree, it is his own fault if he does not change it. It can be top
worked. He does not care to top work maples or oaks. We only top work to
get something better than we have. The trees, of course, that interest
us specially in top working are the nut trees. We have seedling pecans,
seedling walnuts, seedling hickories, and seedling chestnuts. Down at
the mouth of Green River in Kentucky are nearly two hundred acres of
wild pecan trees. So far as we know there are only two trees in that
orchard worthy of propagation. Of thousands of trees there we have
propagated only two varieties. These trees are now too large to top
work, but had it been possible 150 years ago to go in there and select
the desirable nuts, and topwork all the other trees with these, there
could have been a great orchard there now of the highest quality nuts.

Topworking consists in cutting off the top of some undesirable seedling
and replacing it with scions or buds from some desirable variety. It is
just the same as any other grafting or budding proces