Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

Mr. Meyer's report upon this disease, as he found it in China, has some points which may be of interest to you. He said the disease apparently had been there for many years, as the lesions of the disease showed if they were examined carefully. The fact that it has been there for many years is, I think, questioned by no one at the present time. Its growth in China seems to be somewhat different, in fact in many cases quite different, from the growth on the American and the European chestnut trees. It is rather of the type that we are familiar with on the resistant Japanese trees. More-over, it appears on some of the trees as shown in the photographs which I will pass around. The appearance of the disease more closely resembles, in some ways, what we are familiar with in the European apple canker as it appears on the apple trees. I think those who are familiar with the apple canker will notice the resemblance, in at least one or two of these photographs. Now, I don't mean by that that it is the same as the apple canker, but I do want to call your attention to its appearance in these photographs, and at the same time, to tell you something that Mr. Meyer wrote about this disease as it appeared in China. He said he found no trees that were absolutely killed by the disease. This may mean, and probably does, that the Chinese tree is resistant, to a certain extent, to this disease; that is, it shows a certain amount of resistance, much in the same way that the Japanese chestnut tree does to the disease in this country.

For some years (as some of you will remember, I think) there have been two different views as to the origin of this disease. One is that it is a native fungus which, for some reason, has assumed a parasitic form; the other that it is an imported disease. The principal reasons for the latter view are that it spreads in this country on the American chestnut in much the same manner that other imported diseases have spread on other plants. The fact is that this disease (so far as we can find absolutely identical with the American form) has been found in China; about this point there is no doubt at all, and I think we can safely say, although we cannot absolutely prove it at this time, that the disease in this country was imported from the Orient. What bearing this will have on the question of control of the disease in this country remains to be seen.

Have we any chestnuts which show immunity to this disease? The American chestnut is subject to it in its most virulent form. There are of course a number of varieties of the American chestnut which have been cultivated. Of these the two which I have seen most of are the Hathaway and the Spineless. Both of these are subject to the disease in the ordinary form. The American varieties which have been originated within a few years, the Boone and the Rochester, I am not prepared to say anything about at the present time. The resistance or immunity of these varieties has not been determined so far as my own work is concerned. Of the European varieties we have a great many and they produce, as a rule, the large chestnuts of the market and are known under various names. Some are scions of named varieties and I will mention some of the more prominent. The first and best known, perhaps, is the Paragon chestnut. This is susceptible to the disease and takes it in almost as violent a form as does the American, and so it is with the Ridgely, a nut which originated near Dover, Delaware. The Dager and the Scott also take the disease, and so do many of the so-called French varieties--the Marron, the Marron Combale, the Early Marron and others--so far as I have been able to ascertain. I have not seen very many Numbo trees, but of those which I have seen, some have been diseased. Two varieties, which I have seen have not had any disease upon them. One of these I saw only once or twice and was unable to make a thorough examination. This is the Darlington chestnut which grows near West Chester, Pa. I have no reason to think this is immune in any way to the disease; all I can say is that I have not yet seen the disease on this variety. Another variety which I have heard a great deal about from the point of view of resisting the disease is the Hannum. I don't know anything about this. I have been unable to locate any trees which I could examine. Now these are all the varieties of the European or American sorts that I care to speak about, and we can say that they are all, so far as we know, with the possible exception of the one or two last mentioned, subject to the disease.

Now let me turn for a moment to two other types of chestnut. First the chinquapin, a small dwarf chestnut which grows in the southern Atlantic states but reaches as far north as New Jersey and perhaps farther for all I know. The chinquapin in the past has been regarded as a rather resistant species and my own observations seem to bear out this supposition. I have seen very few chinquapins which had the disease. It may be due partly to the fact that they are not so subject to the attacks of insects and injuries through which the blight might gain entrance, or it may be due to the resistance in the species--I cannot say about that. I had an opportunity this fall to see the Rush chinquapin. I examined these trees--there are two of them--and I think there is no question but that they are hybrids between the chinquapin and the American chestnut. One of these trees was diseased, the other had no disease upon it.

The Japanese chestnuts have been known for a long time to be highly resistant to the inroads of this disease. Some may be immune, if we use the word immune in a very loose sense. It has been regarded as of rather coarse quality and some varieties as entirely unfit for human food. This is true of many of the Japanese chestnuts, but I have recently seen some which, so far as I could tell, were nearly as sweet as the American chestnut and Paragon chestnut which I tested at the same time and which were growing side by side. I could detect very little difference between them. The Japanese nuts were very large, considerably larger than the Paragon. Whether these will retain their sweetness in drying I cannot say. These Japanese chestnuts are seedlings, and are known as the Delaware, the Felton, the Kent and the Henlopen. Like all of the Japanese chestnuts they are highly resistant to the blight.

I wish to call your attention to a few of the standard Japanese varieties upon which I have made observations. These were all grafted trees, that is the Japanese variety was grafted on American stock. The McFarland is a rather well-known variety. Of five trees which I have had under observation, all of them became diseased below the graft but none above the graft, showing the resistance of the Japanese scion on American stock. I think this is given out as a Burbank variety. The Hale is another one which has the same record exactly. On the Coe I have seen two cases of the disease on the Japanese part and several cases where the trees are diseased below the graft. The Alpha, one of the Parry varieties holds about the same record as the Coe--two cases of disease on the Japanese part and several below the graft. The Parry Giant has been considered one of the largest nuts; in four trees observed there was one case of the disease on the Japanese part and two below the graft. The Superb had the disease below the graft but not above; the Reliance just the same way. Then along with these plots were one variety of European, the Scott, which was quite as susceptible to the disease as any other European, and another variety, the origin of which I do not know. This last appears to be something of a hybrid with some chinquapin blood in it--whether this is so or not I cannot definitely say--I can say this, however, that it takes the disease not as readily as the European but more readily than the Japanese.

Just a few words now in regard to the present distribution of the chestnut disease, or at least its extended distribution. The disease is now known to occur in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York east of the Catskills and as far north as Lake George, and generally as far south as northern Virginia. Farther south there are some scattered infections, one nursery having been found in North Carolina which had the disease. The western distribution of the disease, if you take isolated cases, is now carried to the Pacific coast. We know of an orchard in Agassiz, British Columbia, in which the disease has been found. Nobody knows how this was transmitted, but the chestnut trees upon which the disease occurs were supposed to have been sent to the owner from the Orient. They apparently are not of the usual Japanese type, however; that is all I can say about them now.

The chestnut blight has been found on all parts of the branches, twigs, trunk and the exposed roots. Last year we found the disease on the nuts themselves and on their burs and we were able to isolate the disease from the shell of the nut and we were also able to produce the disease on the bark of a chestnut tree through inoculation from the nut itself. So that the disease can occur on almost any part of the chestnut tree.

* * * * *

A MEMBER: I saw quite recently that there were two cases of fatal poisoning in Connecticut from the result of using nuts said to have been blighted. I would like to know if that has been verified.

MR. COLLINS: There have been, so far as I know, about fifteen cases of supposed chestnut poisoning in the vicinity of Hartford with five deaths. We have reports of disease and possible death in other portions of the country, particularly in the northeast. These reports come in such a way that it is impossible to say definitely that chestnuts caused the trouble, but this much can be said: our office here in Washington has a physician working upon this very point. At the present time all that I can say is that there is no doubt about the cases of illness and it is impossible to dissociate the eating of chestnuts from the possibilities. At the same time it is not possible to show that chestnuts were the cause of the trouble rather than something else which was taken at the same time.

THE SECRETARY: I wrote to the physician near Hartford whose wife is reported to have died, but I have had no answer.

DR. METCALF: After following those cases up and finding that chestnuts could not be excluded as a possible cause, we have started experiments with various animals, also some chemical, to determine if there is any possibility of any definite toxic substance in the nuts; so far results are negligible. We are not prepared to say whether there is anything in chestnut poisoning or whether there is not.

THE SECRETARY: I think there are three points in relation to the chestnut blight of very great importance to the practical nut grower, and I would like Professor Collins to answer these questions. In the first place, how far are we justified in recommending planting of non-immune varieties within the blighted area, in limited quantities, with the understanding that there is a fair show of keeping them tolerably free from the blight by watchful care and cutting out? Mr. Roberts of New Jersey has a large chestnut orchard and he says he is not afraid of the blight. He has had a large crop of chestnuts this year, and he says that, while he has cut out, I believe, one orchard of small trees his large bearing trees are not seriously affected by the blight. This is the same testimony that we had from Colonel Sober last year.

The second question is, how far are we justified in recommending the planting of chestnuts outside of the present blighted area? It seems to me this is a very important point. Can we go so far outside the present blight area, perhaps beyond the present range of the chestnut tree, that we can hope to plant them without their being exposed to danger, or much danger, of contagion from the blight? Can we recommend their being planted in places where the chestnut does not grow now perhaps within several hundred miles?

And the third question is in regard to immune varieties. How far has the immune quality of any varieties been demonstrated?

PROFESSOR COLLINS: With regard to the first question,--planting of non-immune varieties within the chestnut disease area,--I don't feel like recommending it except on an experimental basis. Perhaps I am recommending something that I might feel like changing my mind about a little later, but, in the present state of our knowledge I would hesitate to recommend planting within the disease infested area. So far as the second question is concerned, the planting of non-immune varieties outside the chestnut growing area, I think there are some pretty good prospects in sight, provided the stock which is obtained is carefully inspected to see that it is free from the blight to begin with, and is watched carefully for at least the first year. The third question, in regard to immune varieties,--if there are any the immunity of which has been demonstrated sufficiently to warrant their being planted,--the Japanese, which are highly resistant, and what some people might consider immune, are the only possibilities so far in sight. The great trouble with the Japanese trees which have been grown in the orchards in parts of the country that have come under my observation, is that they have been grafted on stock which is very susceptible to the disease, and I think it is safe to say that 80 per cent at least, possibly 90 per cent, of the trees that have been killed under these conditions have been killed by the disease girdling below the graft on the susceptible American stock. If we can grow Japanese seedlings under the same conditions, perhaps, that Colonel Sober is raising his Paragons--two years from the seed and then grafting--I don't see why we can't have a tree that is going to be reasonably resistant to the disease; now if we can find some Japanese nuts which are really palatable, really good and sweet, as these three or four that I have mentioned appear to be, I don't see why we cannot have a tree which will be reasonably immune to the disease and at the same time producing an edible nut. The Japanese stock seems to be able to fight off the disease to a certain extent in much the same way that the apple tree can fight off the apple canker, each year the lesion increases a little but each year the growth of the tree overcomes it to a certain extent, and there is a fight between the disease and the tree all the time. Very likely the disease once on the tree will remain on the tree, as far as we can tell at present, for quite a time, but perhaps not kill the tree outright.

PROFESSOR VAN DEMAN: Dr. Van Fleet of the Department of Agriculture is working on what seems to be a very fine prospect for raising chestnuts that will be immune and that will have good quality. Japanese chestnuts are the poorest of all in quality but he has taken the chinquapin, which is of high quality but the very smallest of the whole chestnut family, quite common in many of the central and southern states and as far west as Arkansas, has crossed the Japanese chestnut and the chinquapin, and has obtained seedlings that bear very young--when they are not more than four or five feet high sometimes. They are loaded with nuts, and nuts of large size, larger than our ordinary wild chestnut, usually one in a bur just as the chinquapin is and having the high quality of the chinquapin, and he has grown many of those in New Jersey right in the very worst of the disease area and has found some that are exempt. Perhaps some of you have noticed what was published in regard to this in the _Rural New-Yorker_ sometime in the past few months. I have seen the nuts from some of these trees, and while I have never eaten any, I have Dr. Van Fleet's word for it that they are of excellent quality. Now that is something that we might feel quite hopeful about.

PROFESSOR COLLINS: Dr. Van Fleet is doing a fine work. I have seen some of it and gone over the work with him.

PROFESSOR VAN DEMAN: He is one of the government people and he is carrying on his experiments here at the Arlington plantation, right across the river.

DR. METCALF: Speaking of breeding material, we have six sorts for breeding purposes in the shape of seeds of this very species of Chinese chestnut on which the disease occurs in China. The nut of that tree is of very high quality and good size, and, so far as I can tell, quite as sweet as the American chestnut. If there is no more disease on the trees in this climate than there is in China it would be a very practical tree to grow, as far as we know.

TOP-WORKING SEEDLING PECAN TREES

W. N. HUTT, NORTH CAROLINA

According to a census we have just completed there are in North Carolina upwards of 50,000 seedling pecan trees. These trees range in age from one to thirty years. Seventy-five per cent of them are of bearing age, but there is probably not one per cent of that number that are profitable bearing trees. In all parts of the pecan country experience has shown that seedling pecans are notably slow in coming into bearing and some trees never bear at all. Those that do bear have nuts that are almost invariably, small, thick-shelled and of indifferent quality. In this respect, however, the pecan tree differs in no way from any of our other classes of fruits. No one would today be so foolish as to try to get a good peach or apple orchard by planting the seeds of these fruits; but this is just what a great many people have been trying to do with pecans.

This attempt to produce pecan orchards from seed has been the origin of the 50,000 trees noted in the census above. Now that we have these seedling pecan trees, are they of any value at all? Can we make anything out of them whatever or must we cut them down and charge up the expenses to the account of experience, and start over again with standard varieties of budded and grafted trees? Years of time and quantities of money have been spent in producing these beautiful but comparatively valueless seedling trees. However, they are far from being a total loss, for in those deep roots and stalwart trunks and spreading branches, there are latent possibilities in abundance. If by some magic power like that of Aladdin's wonderful lamp told of in the "Tales of the Arabian Nights," we could transform these seedling trees in a single night to standard varieties, we would enrich every owner of pecan trees by hundreds of dollars and the aggregate wealth of the state would be increased by millions.

For several years I have been in search of Aladdin's wonderful lamp to enlighten me how to effect this felicitous transformation. Like Aladdin's quest of old the search has been long and wearisome and has led me a tedious road through many vexatious disappointments, but at last I have found the lamp! I have in my power the magic by which a worthless seedling pecan tree can be transformed into a productive standard variety. This magic talisman is simply

_Patch-Budding._

Every kind of budding is magical. Is it not wonderful to make a crab apple tree produce Stayman or Grimes Golden apples or a quince bush produce luscious Duchess pears? Is it not strange that the sap from the same root can produce red apples on one branch, yellow ones on another, and russets on a third? How does it come that one twig can be made to produce sour apples and the next Paradise Sweets? Strange! Wonderful!! but True!!! It is all owing to the fact that the sap of a tree is a homogeneous substance and that it is the bud through which it passes that stamps the individuality upon it whether it shall be a crab or a Grimes Golden. If we make all the buds of the tree of the Grimes character, the apples will all be Grimes Goldens. In the same way if we make all the buds on a pecan tree Stuarts or Schleys there will be nuts to be gathered from that tree and they will not be the worthless scrub seedlings.

When I began my experiments in the top-working of seedling pecan trees I soon found that there were many things one could _not_ do with pecan trees. I counted myself a successful propagator of apples, peaches, plums, grapes and various other kinds of plants, but apple, peach and general propagation methods failed to give success in the budding and grafting of pecans. I concluded the method must be all right but that I should be more exact about my mechanical manipulations. I started out with the ordinary cleft graft commonly used for top-working most sorts of trees. I experimented in several different orchards and put in hundreds of cleft grafts. I took great pains to make my work as mechanically perfect as possible. All conditions of stock, scions, weather, etc., seemed to promise the highest degree of success. The result of that season's work was a world of disappointment, a lot of experience, and two living grafts. One of these latter, the result of my skill, was so effectively pruned that fall by the pecan girdler that my work for the season was a minus quantity in all but experience. The other living graft, which was put in by an assistant, is now a bearing Curtis tree, our only monument to the success of cleft grafting the pecan. Other propagators are said to be able to secure fair results with cleft grafting of pecans in certain localities, but from my experience, I am willing to aver that it cannot be done in this latitude.

Next followed a series of trials with shield budding which is so uniformly successful with peach, but peach methods failed entirely with pecans. Then followed a succession of trials with whip grafting, veneer grafting, bark grafting, and chip budding, all with a varyingly large percentage of failure and a uniformly small percentage of success. Some propagators in the South report fairly successful results in the chip budding of pecans, but my results with this method were largely of a negative character.

After persistent trials of all the known methods of budding and grafting, through the varying conditions of four successive seasons, I have narrowed the propagation of the pecan in North Carolina to one single method, namely, patch-budding. This method has year after year given us the highest percentage of successful unions. The operation illustrated by figures 1 to 12, is as follows:

1. _Heading Back._

During the dormant period which is, roughly speaking, from November 1st to March 1st, the seedling trees are cut back to stubs, the ends of which may be from one to three inches in diameter. Wounds larger than this size take years to heal and endanger the life of the tree. Large trees can be operated on as well as small seedlings, only one has to go higher up so as not to cut too large limbs. Figure 1 shows a seedling pecan tree 18 inches in diameter, which was stubbed back in the winter of 1911-1912 and successfully budded the following summer. The result of this drastic heading-back is a numerous growth of vigorous, rapidly growing shoots near the ends of the stubs, by which Nature endeavors to heal over the wounds. The cambium in these vigorous, sappy shoots is in the most active condition possible; just the condition most suitable for the union of stock and scion. This optimum condition cannot be secured except by the forced growth as the result of the heading back. Our experiments, year after year, have shown that on the ordinary new shoots, even on active young seedling trees, the percentage of living buds was much less than on the forced shoots of the headed-back trees.

The different steps in the operation of patch budding are briefly as follows:

1st operation. Making parallel cuts on stock. See Figure 2.

2d operation. Making vertical cut to remove bark from stock. See Figure 3.

3d operation. Loosening patch on stock. See Figure 4.

4th operation. Making parallel cuts on bud stick. See Figure 5.

5th operation. Making vertical cut to remove bud patch from bud stick. See Figure 6.

6th operation. Taking bud off bud stick. See Figure 7.

7th operation. Inserting bud on stock. See Figure 8.

8th operation. Beginning the tie. See Figure 9.

9th operation. Wrapping the bud. See Figure 10.

10th operation. The completed operation. See Figure 11.

Figure 12. Bud united.

These illustrations should make the method self-explanatory.

_Knives for Patch-budding._

Two sorts of knives are used for patch-budding, the double one for making the parallel cuts and the ordinary budding knife for removing the patch.

_Cambium._

Professor Bailey, in his "Encyclopedia of Horticulture," says, "The ways and fashions of grafting are legion. There are as many ways as there are ways of whittling. The operator may fashion the union of stock and scion to suit himself if only he apply cambium to cambium, make a close joint and properly protect the work."

The fundamental basis of the whole science of grafting is cambium. What then is this important substance by means of which one plant may be made to live and grow and produce on the roots of another? If we strip off the bark of any actively growing, woody plant we will find just beneath a soft, colorless substance; this substance is cambium. It feels slimy to the touch and if scraped with the finger nail a little doughy mass can be raised. As we examine it it will be seen to quickly darken to cream color, then to yellow and finally to dark brown. A change has taken place in it in a few seconds, right under our eyes. When we first exposed it, it was living, active and capable of building the most complicated of plant structures; now it is dead, inert and impotent. If we examine the smallest portion of this doughy mass under a compound microscope we will find it not merely slime but a highly organized tissue made up of countless minute cells, each with a delicate wall about it and containing a thickish liquid (protoplasm). The cambium cells are brick-shaped, and are placed end to end, with layer overlapping layer, like bricks in the wall of a building. The microscopic structure of cambium tissue gives us a clearer conception of its extreme delicacy. It is one of the most sensitive and delicate substances in all nature. Exposure to the air will kill it and completely destroy its functions in a few seconds. It is easily crushed by slight pressure and quickly killed by exposure to drying, frost, moisture and sunlight. Nature shows her extreme care of it for in making bark she has formed for the delicate cambium a perfect protective covering. Like the cambium the bark is composed of cells, as in fact are all animal and vegetable structures. But the cells of the bark have thick walls of a tough, corky substance, and each cell contains air instead of protoplasm. The corkiness of the bark makes it an impervious, waterproof covering that does not allow the cambium to be dried out or to be washed by external moisture. The air in the bark cells being in a still condition is a non-conductor of heat, and layer of bark overlapping layer, the cambium is completely covered with a dead-air blanket. This keeps it from being frozen in winter and from being overheated in summer, just as a dead-air space in the walls of a building protects from extremes of heat and cold. From this it is plain that nature takes great pains to cover and protect the delicate cambium from all external influences. This stands in striking contrast to the careless manner in which many propagators and planters handle the delicate parts of trees. It also explains why some budders get such a small percentage of living buds and some planters so few living trees.

Cambium is the building material of plants and without it growth is impossible. It covers every portion of the tree from the topmost terminal bud to the deepest root tip like a living blanket. During the growing season the cambium cells divide lengthwise forming new cells. These divide again and grow, and new cells are formed, until by fall a complete mantle of bark covers the outer surface of the cambium, while within it has built up a solid layer of the woody structure of the tree. A few rows of cambium cells are left in an embryonic condition to carry on growth the following year. The cambium is thus the only tissue of the tree that retains from year to year the power of active growth. The layers of wood and bark, after performing their functions for a few seasons, gradually die and are overlapped by new layers, but the cambium remains living throughout the entire life of the tree even if it be, as in the giant Redwoods, thousands of years.

Besides forming the regular wood of the tree the cambium also grows out over cut places and builds in woody tissues that heal over the wounds. It is owing to this fact alone that budding and grafting are possible. The callus on cuttings and root grafts is another evidence of the same phenomenon, for the cambium of the roots of a tree is continuous and identical with that of the branches.

_The Stock._

The whole practice of successful grafting and budding is the proper handling of active cambium. The cambium is the cementing material that unites stock and scion and unless there is active cambium there will be no union. It must be said here that no matter how great the future growth of the union, the scion never becomes truly united or fused with the stock. The cambium grows all over and around the cut parts and cements them together, but if the graft union be split open fifty years later, the dead wood of the original scion may be found of the original size and in the original position. Since, then, successful grafting depends on the union of the cambium of the stock with that of the scion, theoretically the best time for grafting and budding would be when the cambium is most active. Actual nursery practice shows that this is practically correct, at least as regards the stock.

The ideal stock for propagation purposes is the young seedling of one or two years growth. In such a stock all the tissues are new and fresh and working to their maximum capacity and the cambium is in its most active condition. In top-working old trees it will be found that though the branches may appear vigorous, they are a long way from having anything like the active circulation found in small seedlings. Buds put in these branches would give a very small "live," while the same care on nursery seedlings could be counted on giving a high percentage of living buds. In top-working, therefore, it is found necessary in order to get the cambium sufficiently active, to stub back the branches to mere pollards. This cutting back should be done in the winter or dormant season. The following growing season will see a dense growth of very vigorous shoots trying to repair the injury. See Figure 1. These shoots are ideal stocks for, on account of their having all the sap from the greater root of the mature tree, the cambium will be even more active than in the nursery seedling. Often when nursery seedlings are in partially dormant condition, owing to unfavorable weather or other conditions, they may be forced into budding condition by slashing off part of the growth above where the buds are to be inserted. In our top-working experiments this fact was further emphasized by a windstorm which broke off many of the sappy shoots just above where the bud was put on. Every single one of these buds "took," though some others, just as carefully put on, failed. The success of all the buds on the wind-broken shoots was undoubtedly due to the forcing of the cambium growth just at the point where the bud was inserted.

_The Scion._

Although it is desirable to have the cambium of the stock in an active growing condition, it is quite the reverse with the scion. The reason of this is evident, for if the scion were active, it would soon exhaust its small supply of food and die before the union could be formed and it could get its permanent supply of nourishment from the root. It is desirable to have scions fresh and firm but in a quiescent condition until pushed into activity by the growth of the stock. If, on the other hand, the scions or buds become too dry the sap will not be able to revive them and no union will be made.

For patch-budding, the buds may be cut from scions or bud sticks of the present or the past season's growth. Figure 13 shows a bud stick of the present season's growth from which the leaves have been cut. Such a bud stick cannot be obtained until July, for before that time the bark is so tender that it is impossible to get the bud patch off the stick without crushing it or peeling off the cuticle of the bark. The basal buds of the present season's growth, Figure 13, make the best buds because they are more mature and dormant than the buds above them and as they have shed the leaf stalk they can be tied in more easily and snugly than those with the thick, fleshy base of the leaf stalk attached. Some budders make a practice of cutting off the leaves ten days or two weeks before they commence budding and leaving the scions on the trees to ripen the buds and shed off the bases of the petioles. There is in this way no danger of the thick fleshy leaf base decaying under the wrap and souring and killing the buds.

Figure 14 shows budwood of the previous season's growth. This budwood can be cut during the winter and kept over in fresh dormant condition by being packed in damp sawdust and carried over in ordinary cold storage or in a refrigerator. It will be ready for use in the spring as soon as the bark will slip on the stocks. By this method the budding season may be greatly extended and propagation started at least two months before any of the present season's buds will be sufficiently mature for use.

_The Kinds of Buds to Select._

As to the buds themselves the most desirable are those at the base of the season's growth. See Figure 13. These, though not large, are plump and fully mature. The bark is smoother and firmer about them than higher up the stem and there is no leaf stalk to interfere with cutting them accurately and making a close fit and tie. These buds are dormant and there is little danger of their pushing into growth in the fall and being cold hurt the following winter. For best success in patch budding it is not desirable to select very large, overdeveloped buds, or those that have grown so rapidly as to stand out on a little pedicel or basal stalk. In removing such a bud from the stick, the central column of the pedicel will often pull out and remain on the stick. Such a bud will almost invariably die. An observation of pecan buds in general will show that they are normally triple in form, the largest above and two smaller ones beneath it. The largest bud will grow first but if anything happens to it, the next one will take its place.

_Tying in the Buds._

A good deal of the success in patch-budding depends on the tying in of the buds. The cambium must be thoroughly protected if a union is to result. It is necessary to have some kind of tie that will retain the sap as well as exclude external moisture. After experimenting with different materials and methods I have finally abandoned all except the waxed strip tie. This is made by dipping sheet cotton in pure, liquid beeswax and pressing out all extra wax. The cloth after dipping is formed into convenient sized rolls. From these rolls the cloth is torn at budding time into strips a quarter of an inch wide and from six to eight inches long.

In tying in a bud hold it firmly so that it will not slip and begin at the top and bind it in very tightly with the waxed strip. Reverse the tie at the rear of the bud like a surgeon's bandage and cover the patch completely, leaving only the tip of the bud sticking out. The wax in the cloth will cause the tie to adhere sufficiently to the wood so that no other ligature is required. In budding in the spring, when the flow of sap is very copious, it is well to tie in a small splinter about the size of a match just below the bud to drain off the excess sap. This will save many buds from being killed by souring of the sap. In two to three weeks time the tie should be loosened so that the rapid growth of the stock will not cause the tie to cut into the bark.

_The Mechanics of Patch-budding._

After all has been said about cambium and stocks and scions and their relation to each other, there is still volumes to be written on the mechanics of pecan propagation. I do not want to scare anyone off from trying, but if there is any plant more difficult to propagate than the pecan, I have not yet found it. Even experienced propagators of general nursery stock have given up pecan budding as a bad job. On the other hand, a novice or "pecan crank" who is handy with tools and has the patience to study out the causes of his failures, may acquire the skill to obtain almost a perfect "live" of buds. This all goes to show that extreme precision is the password in the mechanics of patch-budding. In the first place, the knives should be of the finest quality so that they will hold a clean, fine edge. All cuts should be made with accuracy and precision, so that there are no rough edges and bias corners. The number of living buds will, under ordinary circumstances, be in exact proportion to the accuracy with which the bud patch fits the place made for it on the stock. The experienced pecan budder as he takes the bud off the stick can tell whether or not they will grow. If he tears the bark in cutting the patch, he drops that bud and cuts another; if the bud patch splits, he discards it; if his fingers touch the cambium or the bud patch falls to the ground, he wastes no time with it, but cuts another and another until he gets the conditions perfect. There is little use in tying in any bud that does not fit perfectly. For this reason it is desirable to have the bud stick of the same diameter as the stock. The bud patches from thin or small scions have to be stretched to fit and generally give a poor "live"; likewise, the buds from the more or less ridged portion at the top of the bud stick. The transfer of the bud patch should also be made quickly so that the cambium will have the shortest possible exposure to the air.

_After Treatment._

The process of patch-budding is not complete even after a good "live" of buds is secured. It still requires some judicious after-treatment to get them into good normal growth. On account of the drastic heading back the tree has received, practically every dormant bud will be forced into active growth. These will push out so vigorously in spring that if not held in check, they may completely overgrow and crowd out the buds put in. Attention should be given during the early growing period to see that the buds put in have sufficient room for proper development. If all or too many of the seedling buds are rubbed off, the inserted buds will not be able to carry all of the heavy flow of sap and so may be drowned and killed. On the other hand, the inserted buds may not start unless forced by the extra sap obtained by rubbing off a portion of the seedling buds. A good deal of horticultural judgment is required to adjust the proper balance between the seedling and the inserted buds so as to get the best development of the latter. When the inserted buds are able to carry all the sap of the tree, all seedling shoots should be cut out and attention directed towards forming the new growth into a strong symmetrical top.

If conditions are favorable, there will generally be some nuts the second season. By the third year the transformation from the seedling to the named variety should be complete, and a good crop of high class nuts should be expected.

* * * * *

MR. POMEROY: Would it not be an advantage if two persons worked at the budding? After the cuts are made, one could be taking the part from the stock and the other taking the bud from the budding stick.

THE CHAIRMAN: That is a very good plan. One man could put in the buds and another man could tie--a boy handy with his fingers in making ties.

PROFESSOR SMITH: Why the superiority of beeswax to grafting wax?

THE CHAIRMAN: A good many budders object to grafting wax, on account of the oil therein contained being injurious to the trees. A great many people have dead trees as a result. Trees don't like oil, and for that reason we use beeswax and only the purest kind of beeswax. In fact, these pecan cranks who want to do things as they should be, like to examine the wax to see if there is pollen or bee bread or anything foreign in it.

PROFESSOR SMITH: Is there any particular time that is best for grafting?

PRESIDENT HUTT: Yes; in the early part of the season there is a very vigorous flow of sap and we find we lose more buds then than in the later grafting. In early grafting we put in drainage, just like the physicians, little tubes or something to drain out the moisture. We put in a little chip and tie over it very carefully so if there is any drainage it may escape. In the fall and late summer drainage is not necessary at all, and we really get better unions then when the trees are slowing down than we do in the spring when they are full of sap.

MR. STORRS: In selecting your buds, do you take them from trees that have borne, or from young trees, or indiscriminately?

PRESIDENT HUTT: We take them either from bearing or young trees. It is not important which, just so you get the right kind.

The important thing is to select good fresh active stuff, and particularly good sized scions and not small ones.

In budding we fit one side perfectly, and on the other side we leave a space of one sixteenth of an inch like a door. We didn't do that at first and we lost a good many buds because the active growth began on both sides. We had to leave a place there at the side, an expansion joint, to take care of that.

MR. STORRS: Then you fit them at the top and bottom and at one side?

THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, that's it.

THE SECRETARY: This is one of the most important papers ever read before this Association, and that is because the success of nut growing anywhere is absolutely conditioned on our knowledge of propagation. If the propagation of nut trees were as easy as the propagation of apple and peach trees, we would probably now have in the north as many orchards of good nut trees as of apple and peach trees. Any one who has tried this budding of nut trees will, I am sure, appreciate the difficulties that Professor Hutt has described and the pains he has taken in telling us about them. This is the beginning of the demonstrations in propagating. They will be continued tomorrow; we will have then three or four of the most expert grafters and budders in the country, perhaps, who will give further demonstrations.

I would like to ask Professor Hutt a question. I noticed that in putting in some Persian walnut buds this summer, all died except a couple where the tops accidentally broke off.

THE CHAIRMAN: That is explained by the illustration I gave of the wind blowing off all the shoots. Every one that was blown off lived even though some were badly torn. It was simply forcing the cambium at that point where it was needed. Mr. Roper had an experience of that kind.

Vice-President Northern Nut Growers Association]

MR. ROPER: We put buds on stock that was not very active, so the trees were cut back to six inches above the bud, forcing all the growth into the bud, and I suppose 95 per cent of those buds lived; on the trees not cut back the buds did not live.

THE SECRETARY: You have spoken about soaking the scions in cold water; does not that injure the buds? We have been told heretofore that keeping the scions in water started the cells into activity and rendered them less likely to grow; but perhaps that referred particularly to scions for grafting rather than budding.

THE CHAIRMAN: I would like to ask Mr. Wiggins that question, he is a specialist.

MR. WIGGINS: One of the dangers in keeping bud wood is that of keeping it in too much moisture. It does not require much to keep the bud plump.

THE SECRETARY: I understand the reason for soaking is simply to allow the bud to be taken off.

THE CHAIRMAN: Yes.

MR. JONES: In our experience the soaking of wood does not injure it for budding, but it does for grafting. You can soak the wood for budding all you want to, we have soaked it until the top bud came out.

THE SECRETARY: I am interested in knowing about this special wax cloth. Can it be used also in grafting?

THE CHAIRMAN: The other is much cheaper for that purpose. To just cover the thing up and exclude the air is all that is necessary in grafting. Liquid wax--four of rosin, four of tallow and two of beeswax--gives excellent results, but for budding purposes it is absolutely essential to have good clean wax, and for our purposes we have never found anything but pure beeswax would answer.

THE SECRETARY: There is a substance called "white wax" which pharmacists use in making toilet preparations--purified beeswax. It is pure white. Is that any advantage?

THE CHAIRMAN: I would not use it. It contains some paraffine.

THE SECRETARY: It should consist of purified and bleached beeswax only. It is more expensive than the ordinary beeswax.

[Read by title.]

UNUSUAL METHODS OF PROPAGATING NUT TREES

DR. ROBERT T. MORRIS, NEW YORK CITY

With the exception of the chestnut and the almond, much difficulty has been experienced in propagating most of the nut trees of temperate latitudes by budding or by grafting. This appears to be largely due to the slow formation of callus which is to make new cell connection between the cambium layers of host and of guest. In southern regions of the United States the union occurs much more readily than in the north. My experiments have been made chiefly with reference to developing methods of propagating nut trees in the north. All of the usual methods common among nurserymen have been practically failures, but certain unusual methods seem to promise success.

One unusual method which was suggested at last year's meeting by our member Mr. J. F. Jones, has given a good proportion of catches. This consists in using wood which is more than one year old for scions. Some of the scions of shagbark hickory from wood four, five, and even six years of age have caught. The chief difficulty has consisted in starting the buds of this old wood (latent buds) before vigorous sprouts from the stock diverted all the sap. It has been necessary to give much attention to the removal of these vigorous stock sprouts. I seem to have made the observation that if a small side branch from old wood carries a large terminal bud, this bud will start promptly when old wood constitutes the rest of the scion.

A method which I employed for the first time this year, which appears to have resulted in securing union between stock and scion, has been employed between different species of hickory trees. It belongs among the inarching methods in classification. It seemed probable that if a scion were to be supplied with sufficient water to prevent drying out, in advance of granulation-cell connection, we might meet with success.

The first line of experimentation with this idea in mind was conducted last year. The scion when grafted upon the stock was deprived of its top bud, and a small test tube filled with water and fitted with a rubber cap was adjusted over the site previously occupied by the top bud. This in practical working really did keep the cells of the scion alive and in good condition for a long time, but there was always a tendency for the water to become impure because of the growth of various algae and other microbes. Evidently the water when used in this way helped to furnish a balance between the negative and the positive sap pressures which occur under changing conditions of barometer and temperature, and which are influential in the matter of cellular repair. The introduction of germicides into the water of the test tube prevented the development of adventitious organic life, but at the same time seemed to interfere with normal cell activity at the junction of stock and scion.

The "aquarium" is made out of an ordinary large test tube. Any small bottle would do as well.]

This method served a purpose in advancing our knowledge of the subject, but not enough grafts caught to encourage me greatly. Following out the same line of thought, I began this year by making union between stock and scion according to inarch principles. The scion instead of remaining attached to its parent plant, according to former inarching method, had been transferred to the stock, leaving two or three inches of scion free below the point of grafting, as illustrated in the drawing. The proximal part of the scion was then inserted into a test tube containing water. In this case, as with placing the test tube at the top of the scion, difficulty was found in preventing the growth of microörganisms in the water. The addition of benzoate of soda, borax, boracic acid, and sulphate of copper, while preventing the development of microörganisms, seemed also to be objectionable to the physiologic processes of the plant. It occurred to me that the principle of the balanced aquarium might be applied, and acting upon this idea specimens of a pond weed (Utricularia) were introduced into the test tubes. This seemed to settle the water question completely, but it was well along in the summer before I made grafts and applied this principle. From one to four leaves, or parts of leaves, were left upon grafts which were applied to stocks according to this new inarching method. All of these leaves remained green until autumn, and fell with other autumn leaves of the stock. Two specimens which I have cut away for examination seemed to show a very good union between stock and scion.