This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ... soil out of doors, only their tips being above ground. Preparing The Tree If the tree is five or six years old, or less, the scaffold limbs are probably mostly one and a half to two inches in diameter. Cut off all but one or two of these, from twelve to eighteen inches from the trunk. Always select a ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ... soil out of doors, only their tips being above ground. Preparing The Tree If the tree is five or six years old, or less, the scaffold limbs are probably mostly one and a half to two inches in diameter. Cut off all but one or two of these, from twelve to eighteen inches from the trunk. Always select a place on the branch that is free from knots, or small limbs which would make it difficult to split the branch. It is safer not to cut off and graft all the limbs on a young tree but to leave a few, especially the smaller, to help the grafts along in spring. When cutting limbs for grafting, bear in mind that it is very desirable that the tree shall be shapely and well balanced after the grafts have grown into limbs; therefore, distribute the grafts evenly over the tree. A top grafted tree rarely becomes as shapely a tree as one budded or grafted at the crown when young. It is likely to be somewhat sprawling and unbalanced; but good judgment in placing the cions will largely minimise that fault. Older trees require still more care in preparation for grafting. Good judgment must be used to set cions into a large tree so that when all the old branches are removed, and only those which grow from the cions remain, the tree will be of good form and have no large gaps. Practically all of the limbs under three inches in diameter should be cut off at a point where there is a few inches of growth free from branches or knots. It is rarely advisable to graft limbs more than three inches in diameter. A good grafter always prefers to set cions in several branches from one inch to one and one-half inches in diameter, than to graft the one very large limb from which these sprung. The cions "take" better in small limbs and the wounds heal quicker....
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