American Pomology. Apples

Grafting by Approach, or as it is generally termed, inarching, is often practiced where there is difficulty in making the scion unite with the stock; it is not often needed in the culture of our orchard fruits, but may be here described. The stock upon which we wish to graft the scion, must be planted near the variety or species to be increased. A small twig of the latter, which can be brought close to the stock, is selected for the operation; a slice of bark and wood is then removed from the twig, and another of equal size from the stock, so managed, that these cut surfaces can be brought together and secured in that position until they have united, after which the twig, that has been used as a scion, is cut from its parent tree, and the top of the stock is carefully reduced until the scion has sufficiently developed itself to act as the top of the ingrafted tree, which may afterward be transplanted to its proper station.

A modification of this grafting by approach, is, however, sometimes of great service, where we have a valuable tree that has suffered from disease in the roots, or from injury to them. It consists in planting some thrifty young stocks, with good roots, about the base of the tree, after having prepared the ground by thorough digging, and by the addition of good soil if necessary. These stocks are then inserted upwards into the healthy portion of the trunk, by the process of side grafting reversed or inverted, or by the usual method of inarching.

Ring Grafting or Bark Grafting is not much used, and in small stocks it is rather a kind of budding, for then a ring of bark is removed at the proper season of year, generally about midsummer, and it is replaced by a similar ring of bark from a shoot of the same size, taken from a tree of the variety to be propagated; this ring of bark must be furnished with a healthy bud. This method has little to recommend it, and can only be applied when both the stock and the scion are in a growing condition, so that the bark will run freely; care also must be exercised to avoid injuring the eye of the bud, in peeling off the ring. A modification of bark grafting may be applied with great advantage, however, to an old tree, that has met with an injury to a portion of its bark. The injured part should be pared smoothly to the sound bark and wood. This may be done with a sloping cut, or the edge may be made abrupt and square with a chisel and mallet; a piece of fresh wood and bark is then to be cut from a healthy tree and fitted precisely to the fresh wound, and secured in its place with bandages, and grafting clay or wax is then applied, thus making what the surgeons would call a sort of taliacotian operation. Instead of a single piece of wood and bark, a number of young shoots may be used to make the communication complete; these are set close together and secured in the usual manner; see fig. 15.

Fig. 15.—BARK GRAFTING,

TO REPAIR AN INJURED TREE.

Re-grafting Old Orchards.—Old orchards of inferior fruit may be entirely re-made and re-formed by grafting the limbs with such varieties as we may desire. A new life is by this process often infused into the trees, which is due to the very severe pruning which the trees then receive; they are consequently soon covered with a vigorous growth of young healthy wood, which replaces the decrepid and often decaying spray that accumulates in an old orchard, and the fruit produced for several years by the new growth is not only more valuable in kind, according to the judgment used in the selection of grafts, but it is more fair, smooth and healthy, and of better size than that which was previously furnished by the trees. Certain varieties are brought at once into bearing when thus top-grafted, which would have been long in developing their fruitful condition if planted as nursery trees. Others are always better and finer when so worked, than on young trees. Some of the finest specimens of the Northern Spy apple, exhibited at the fairs, have been produced by grafts inserted into the terminal branches of old bearing trees. There is a theory held by some orchardists, that the further the junction of the graft with the stock is removed from the root, the better will be the fruit. This, however, is not well supported, and the circumstance, when observed, is probably dependent upon other causes.

In renewing an old orchard by grafting its head, it will not be a good plan to attempt the whole tree at once; the pruning would be too severe, and would be followed by a profusion of succulent shoots breaking out from the large branches, such as are called water-sprouts. Those who have practiced most, prefer at first, to remove about one-third of the limbs for grafting, and those should be selected at the top of the tree. The new growth thus has an open field for its development, and the lower limbs will be invigorated, while they tend also to preserve the equilibrium of the tree in a double sense, physically and physiologically. The next year another third of the limbs may be grafted, and the remainder the year following, as practiced by Mr. Geo. Olmstead, of Connecticut, who, on the sixth year from the first grafting, harvested 28-½ bushels of choice apples from a single tree that was 75 years old, and which before only produced inferior fruit. J.J. Thomas recommends, "to give a well-shaped head to such newly formed trees, and to prevent the branches from shooting upward in a close body near the centre of the tree; that the old horizontal boughs should be allowed to extend to a distance in each direction, while the upright ones should be lopped;" see fig. 16. The same writer also advises, "instead of cutting off large branches and grafting them at once, it is better to prune the top in part, which will cause an emission of vigorous shoots. These are then budded, or grafted. * * * And as the grafts gradually extend by growth, the remainder of the top may, by successive excisions, be entirely removed."

Fig. 16.—RENEWAL OF THE TOP OF AN OLD TREE.

Grafting in the Nursery is either done at or near the collar of the stock, or it is performed in-doors upon the roots or sections of roots of young stocks. The latter may be first described, as it constitutes the most extensive means of multiplying fruit trees. It is a sort of machinery, with division of labor, and appliances, that enable the operators to turn out immense numbers. Machinery has indeed been applied to the business; we have grafting apparatus to facilitate the work. The Minkler machine consists of a frame or gauge which regulates the angle of the slope, which is cut with a broad chisel that reduces the roots and scions to a condition for putting them together; by its use an immense number of grafts can be cut, and another hand binds them together with the waxed thread, without any tie. Mr. Robey's machine consists of a complicated shears to cut the slope and tongue at one operation, preparing the pieces for whip grafting. Mr. S.S. Jackson, of Cincinnati, has also invented an apparatus for this purpose, which proves to be very useful.

Root Grafting.—The methods of performing the operation vary somewhat, but all agree in the object to be attained: the co-aptation of the scion with a piece of root. Some grafters use only the upper portion of the root, thinking the original collar of the seedling stock the only point at which the most perfect and successful union between the aërial and terrestrial portions of trees should or can be effected—theoretically this may be very well, but the practice constantly pursued, in myriads of cases, abundantly proves that the grafting need not be restricted to this part, and that a perfect union may be effected at any point of the root, and that this may even be inverted. The very common practice has been to take two or more cuts from the root, when it is of sufficient size and length; and though some of our best propagators restrict themselves to two cuts from each, others, who have experimented carefully, insist that the third section will average as well as the others. A lot of trees, worked especially for a test in this matter, gave the following results.

In 1859 an average lot of roots and scions, about fifty in each lot, were treated as follows, White Pippin and Willow-leaf being used as scions:—

White Pippin—No. 1, being on the first cut of the root, had made a fair growth.

No. 2, being on the second cut, were quite as good or better.

No. 3, being on the third cut, were not quite so good as the others, the ground being partially shaded by a large tree.

Another, of Willow-leaf—No. 1, on the 3d cut of root, very good growth.

No. 2, on very slender roots, nearly as good.

No. 3, only 1 inch of root to 1 inch of scion; not so good growth nor so good a strike, but shaded by a tree.

No. 4, on 2d cut of root, not so good as the third.

No. 5, on average lot, not waxed, as good as any.

No. 6, roots worked upside-down, mostly failed.

D.O. Reeder exhibited some 2-year old apple trees, worked on the root inverted, they were of very good growth.

For root grafting, thrifty stocks are wanted of one or two years' growth, the smoother and straighter the roots, the better. These should be taken up from the seed-bed in the fall, selected, tied in bundles, and stored in the cellar or cave, or buried in the soil where they shall be accessible at any time, and where they will be kept fresh and plump. The roots and scions having been prepared and under shelter, the work of grafting may proceed at any time during the winter. The stocks, if not clean, should be washed, and one hand trims off the side rootlets. The grafter cuts a hundred scions of the appropriate length, which he puts into a shallow box on the table; he takes up a stock, cuts the slope near the collar, and a dextrous hand will at the same time make the sloping cut to receive the first graft and also the tongue, if that style of grafting is to be done, as is usually practised. He then picks up a scion, from a lot which himself or another hand has already prepared with a slope and tongue, and adapts it to the root, the tongue keeping the two together; a portion of the root is then cut off with the graft, and the process is repeated upon the next section. Two or three or more grafts, are thus made from one seedling root; the length of the sections vary from two to four inches, according to the fancy of the operator, or of his employer. Some persons recommend a long scion with a short root, and others prefer to reverse those terms. The whole root graft should not be more than six or seven inches long.

When any given number of scions are fitted to the roots, a boy completes the process of grafting, by applying melted wax with a brush, in which case they are dropped into water to harden the wax, or they are wrapped with waxed strips of muslin or paper, or, better still, they are tied with waxed thread. No. 3 cotton yarn is drawn through a pan of melted wax, and wound upon a reel placed at the other side of the room, so that the wax may harden. This waxed thread is a very convenient tie; the graft being held in the left hand, the thread is wound about it two or three turns; as the wax causes the bandage to adhere to itself where it crosses, no knot is needed, and the thread is broken off with a quick jerk.

In splice grafting, whether performed with any of the machines, or if the slopes of root and scion be cut with the thin grafting knife, the tying must be done by the same hand that selects and places the scion upon the root. This does not admit of the same division of labor, and the fingers, becoming sticky from the wax, cannot be so nimble, and are unfit for cutting. When the lot is tied, they are set into the box, which should be inclined at an angle, and interspersed with earth or saw-dust; for transportation. Saw-dust, just as it comes from the mill, neither wet nor dry, is preferred by some as a packing material, and it has been found very efficacious, excluding and admitting the air just in the right proportions to prevent desiccation, and to promote the union, which very soon takes place between the graft and the root, if the boxes be stored in the cellar. In an ice-house root grafts have been kept in saw-dust more than a year, and then planted and grown successfully. The boxes should be deep enough to receive the whole graft—say from 10 to 12 inches—and then they can be packed upon one another without injuring the scions; these should be distinctly marked with the name and number, so as to be ready for planting out in the spring.

Much discussion has been had upon the merits and demerits, or disadvantages of root grafting, and much theoretical argument has been brought against the practice; but beautiful trees are thus made in immense numbers in the extensive nurseries of our country, and until better arguments can be produced against the practice, nurserymen will continue to graft on sections of root, such varieties, as are suitable for this procedure—especially apples, in a large proportion of the varieties cultivated, some pears, some peaches, grapes, and other fruits.

Root grafting is now of almost universal application with the apple. It has many advantages, which may be summed up as follows: Two or more plants may be produced from the root of one stock; these may be made with great rapidity; the work may all be performed in-doors and during the whole winter season, when nothing can be done outside; they are of small bulk, and great numbers may be stowed away in little space, they may be transported to any distance in this condition, and are ready for planting with the opening of spring, when they may be set in the nursery rows at once; or, they may be bedded out in a small space and mulched, to protect them from drouth, and the weeds can easily be kept under. Another advantage of bedding out the root-grafts is, that they may be assorted according to their size the next season, when transplanted into the nursery rows. This very transplanting too is a great advantage, for the roots will be much improved by the process.

The theoretical objections to root grafts have yielded to sound philosophy, based on and supported by practical observation. The very many advantages of this more economical and convenient and agreeable process, will necessarily sustain root-grafting in this fast age, when so many millions of trees are needed for the rapidly extending wants of this nation of tree planters. We may, however, consider some of the practical objections which have been brought forward against this plan of multiplying the apple. In our very changeable climate, and particularly in the North-west, upon the prairies, the cold of winter often supervenes with great suddenness, after the young trees have made a prolonged and vigorous growth in the fertile soil, and produces terrible devastation among those that are there exposed, without protection of any kind, to the rude blasts of the storm-king: in a less degree, injury is very frequent with many such late-growing kinds, at the first access of a severe frost; this is manifested in the bursting of the bark near the base of the stem. The same thing is not so often seen in the same varieties, when they have been budded or stock grafted a foot or more from the ground upon hardy seedling stocks, hence judicious propagators have selected the "tender" varieties for this kind of working, and confine their root-grafting to those less liable to the injury. There are other varieties which do not readily and promptly form a strong upright growth, so as to be profitable trees to the nurseryman if root grafted; these are selected for stock working, either on strong seedlings, or upon hardy upright sorts that have been root grafted for the purpose of being thus double-worked. This plan has been pursued to a limited extent only, but its advantages in the production of good trees of the slender growing varieties, begin to be appreciated, and as the demand increases, our intelligent nurserymen will very soon furnish the requisite supply.

Planting.—When the weather is fine, and the soil in good condition, the root-grafts are to be set out with a dibble, by the line; they should be planted rather deeply, one bud projecting above the surface of the ground. The culture must be thorough, the plants should be kept perfectly clean, but it is questionable whether the growth should be pushed, late in the season; indeed, it is preferable to check the vegetation at mid-summer. For this purpose it has been recommended to cease cultivating the soil, or even to sow the ground with a heavy seeding of oats, so as to check the growth before winter. In good soils, with good culture, the average hight in the rows will be two feet, but there is a great difference in the kinds; some will considerably exceed this hight. Intelligent nurserymen no longer endeavor to have an excessive growth in the first year, and many prefer the bedding plan above alluded to.

Trimming, Pinching, or Heading.—The growth during the first year is generally a single shoot, sometimes two. If there be a second, it should be subordinated by pinching off its extremity, never by trimming it off; indeed, laterals should always be encouraged, and this will be more and more the case, since the demand for low-headed trees is increasing, as the laws of physiology are better understood. A young tree, well furnished with laterals, is always more stocky, and every way better, though not so tall as that which has been drawn up to a single stem. To encourage this condition, some advise the pinching out the terminal bud in the midst of the growing season, which will cause the swelling and subsequent breaking of the lower buds, so as to furnish plenty of laterals. If done later in the season, especially with strong-growing varieties, a branching head may be formed higher up, during the first season, making very pretty trees. This is, however, seldom attempted with root-grafts the first season, though it is very common for collar-grafted trees, and for buds on strong stocks to make a fine branching growth the first year. The second season the trees should all be headed-in, and the laterals spurred-in early in the spring, or in mild weather during the winter, if the scions are wanted. This method of making stocky plants cannot be too highly commended, nor can the opposite plan, of trimming off all the side branches, and even of stripping the leaves from the lower part of the shoots, during the first summer, be too severely condemned.

Stock Grafting has many advocates, and for some varieties this plan is preferable. The union may be effected at any point from the collar upward. Formerly, the place was selected to suit the convenience of the grafter, and many old orchards show very plainly where they were worked, the stock or the scion having overgrown, and it is very curious that some varieties may be indicated as good feeders of the stock below them, and the contrary. At present, tree planters are more fastidious, and object to these irregularities in the stems of their trees. They will purchase nothing that shows the point of union above ground, hence the more common use of collar grafting, as it has been called, or the insertion of the scion at or near the surface of the ground. Stocks that have been cultivated one or two years in the nursery row, are selected for this purpose; the earth is removed from them, they are cut off and grafted as they stand, and with their fine strong roots undisturbed, the result of one summer's growth is very satisfactory, making beautiful trees fit for the orchard. Older trees, especially those with straight clean stems, are often grafted standard high, so as to produce a fine salable tree at once, or in one season. This is a very good plan with some of the slender and straggling varieties, such as are called poor growers, and which are unprofitable to the nurseryman when propagated in the usual manner. Grafting or budding upon such stocks is also resorted to very often, when it is desirable at once to furnish large, or salable trees of new varieties.

In grafting upon a large stock, or upon the tops of an old tree, the process called cleft grafting is generally used. Here, as in all forms of this process, the object to be attained, is the co-aptation of the inner bark of both stock and scion. The latter is held in its place by the clasping of the former, and is also covered by some material that is pliant, and which will exclude the air and moisture.

The advantages of stock-grafting are the changing of an old tree from bad to good fruit, which is produced in a few years; it is also applicable to large stocks, and produces an immediate result, making salable trees in one year. It is also desirable for some poor-growing varieties, which are slow in making a tree from the ground; but it has its disadvantages also. The nurseryman must wait until his stocks have been grown one or more years in the nursery, his trees will sometimes be larger than he desires, they will be apt to have the mark of the grafting as a blemish upon the stalk sometimes during the life of the tree; and worse than all, he is restricted to a brief period in the spring, when he is obliged to perform the operation out of doors, and often in very unpleasant weather.

As a result of all the discussions upon this subject, it is found that stock-grafting, whether at the collar or at some distance above the ground, is still practiced, and has many warm advocates, as a better means of making the best trees. The only objections are the greater expense of culture of the stocks, and greater labor in grafting; the limited period at which the work can be performed, and the exposure of the workman during its performance, which is often at a stormy season, and always during a busy portion of the year. The trees too, in the orchard, are often somewhat deformed by an irregularity of growth, and have an enlargement either above or below the union, which is unsightly.

The kind of grafting will depend upon the size of the stocks; splice and whip-grafting on the smaller, and cleft-grafting on the larger ones, must be practiced. The waxing may be done by any of the methods indicated, according to the fancy; but it must always be more thoroughly done in aerial, than in underground grafting, whether this be in the collar or upon sections of the root; in the former the whole of the cut surfaces must be covered, to prevent desiccation by the winds, or the inroads of insects, or of wet from rains.

Wax.—Various combinations of the materials used in the preparation of grafting-wax, have been recommended by different operators. The desideratum being to have a material that shall be sufficiently pliant, and at the same time firm enough to withstand the elevated temperatures to which it may be exposed. A mean is preferred, neither too hard nor too soft, and the proportions of the ingredients are varied according as it is proposed to use it out of doors, or in the house, in cold weather or warm.

A favorite recipe, with a practical nurseryman of great experience, is:

This is to be used warm, when grafting in the house.

For out-door work he used the following:

Rosin, four or five parts.

Bees-wax, one and one-half to two parts.

Linseed oil, one to one and one-half.

This is made into a mass to be applied by hand. A very pleasant and neat mode of using the wax is to pour it when melted, upon thin muslin or strong paper, and spread it thin with a spatula. The tissue is then cut into strips of convenient size. The application to cotton yarn for root-grafting, has already been mentioned.

The French use the preparation given below, sufficiently warm to be liquid, but not so hot as to injure the tissues of the tree, and apply it with a brush:

¹⁴ Du Breuil, Culture of Fruit Trees; English Translation.

Mr. Du Breuil also refers to Leport's liquid mastic in terms of commendation, but speaks of it as a secret composition.

Downing recommends melting together:

He says, the common wax of the French is

To be boiled together, and laid on with a brush, and for using cold or on strips of muslin, equal parts of tallow, bees-wax, and rosin, some preferring a little more tallow.

J.J. Thomas, whose practical knowledge is proverbial, recommends for its cheapness

Melted together, to be applied warm with a brush, or to be put on paper or muslin, or worked with wet hands into a mass and drawn out into ribbons.

The season for grafting is quite a prolonged one, if we include the period during which it may be done in the house, and the ability we have of retarding the scions by cold, using ice. It should be done while the grafts are dormant, which is at any time from the fall of the leaf until the swelling of the buds. As the grafts would be likely to suffer from prolonged exposure, out-door grafting is done just before vegetation commences in the spring, but may be prolonged until the stocks are in full leaf, by keeping back the scions, in which case, however, there is more danger to the stock unless a portion of its foliage is allowed to remain to keep up the circulation; under these circumstances, too, side-grafting is sometimes used with the same view.

The stone fruits are worked first; cherries, plums, and peaches, then pears and apples. With regard to grafting grapes, there is a diversity of opinion. Some operators prefer very early in the season, as in February, and others wait until the leaves have appeared upon the vine to be grafted.

Scions or Grafts are to be selected from healthy plants of the variety we wish to propagate. They should be the growth of the previous year, of average size, well developed, and with good buds, those having flower buds are rejected. If the shoots be too strong, they are often furnished with poor buds, and are more pithy, and therefore they are more difficult to work and are less likely to grow. Grafts, cut from young bearing orchards, are the best, and being cut from fruiting trees, this enables us to be certain as to correctness of the varieties to be propagated; but they are generally and most rapidly collected from young nursery trees, and as an orchardist or nurseryman should be able to judge of all the varieties he cultivates by the appearance of their growth, foliage, bark, dots, etc., there is little danger in taking the scions from such untested trees.

Time for cutting Scions.—The scions may be cut at any time after the cessation of growth in the autumn, even before the leaves have fallen, until the buds burst in the spring, always avoiding severely cold or frosty weather, because of the injury to the tree that results from cutting at such a time, though the frost may not have injured the scion. The best nurserymen prefer to cut them in the autumn, before they can have been injured by cold. They should be carefully packed in fine earth, sand, or sawdust, and placed in the cellar or cave. The leaves stripped from them, make a very good packing material; moss is often used, where it can be obtained, but the best material is saw-dust. This latter is clean, whereas the sand and soil will dull the knife. If the scions should have become dry and shriveled, they may still be revived by placing them in soil that is moderately moist, not wet—they should not, by any means, be placed in water, but should be so situated that they may slowly imbibe moisture. When they have been plumped, they should be examined by cutting into their tissues; if these be brown, they are useless, but if alive, the fresh cut will look clear and white, and the knife will pass as freely through them as when cutting a fresh twig.

The after-treatment of the grafts consists in removing the sprouts that appear upon the stock below the scion, often in great numbers. These are called robbers, as they take the sap which should go into the scion. It is sometimes well to leave a portion of these as an outlet for excess. When the graft is tardy in its vegetation, and in late grafting, it is always safest to leave some of these shoots to direct the circulation to the part, and thus insure a supply to the newly introduced scion; all should eventually be removed, so as to leave the graft supreme.

It may sometimes be necessary to tie up the young shoot which pushes with vigor, and may fall and break with its own weight before the supporting woody fibre has been deposited; but a much better policy is to pinch in the tip when but a few inches long, and thus encourage the swelling and breaking of the lateral buds, and produce a more sturdy result. This is particularly the case in stock-grafts and in renewing an orchard by top-grafting.