Spring is the Time to Make Final Preparations For Grafting $y Dr. (VI. C. Aerrill, Horticulturist, Utah Agricultural College Fruit growers all over ;he West, and particularly the owners of the small orchards, are becoming Increasingly Increas-ingly Interested each year in the subject sub-ject of top-working some of their fruit trees. Now ia the time for the final stages of preparation for this iiniiort-tnt iiniiort-tnt work tills spring. The top-working of trees Is simply the grafting into the lops of fruit trees of another variety. Unless this variety's variety-'s better in many respects than the variety already being produced by the tree it would rot course not be worth while to go to the trouble of making the change. All over the older settled portions of the West there are countless count-less old fruit trees, especially In the home orchards, which bear Inferior fruit Of very poor and almost worthless varieties. At best in many cases they are varieties that were deemed good at one time but which have now been superseded in public favor by newer and better varieties. The tree to be grafted should have a sound, healthy trunk and Che lower parts of the main branches should be vigorous and In good condition. It does not pay to graft onto a decaying or unsound or diseased tree, at least not If the trunk and lower parts of the branches are affected. The tree or part which receives the graft is culled the stock and the twig or part wMah is inserted Is called a clon. Usually the eions are collected the fall before the grafting is to be done In the spring. As a matter of fact, the clous can be obtained any time after the wood has matured and the leaves have failed la the fall and before the buds begin to swell the next spring, providing the cions on the trees do not become Injure! by the cold weather of winter. In selecting ami securing the clons get them from trees of known productiveness. produc-tiveness. If there are none of the desired de-sired varieties from which to select eions in the neighborhood go to an orchard where they may be obtained. Select only the young wood that was produced the past summer. It Is usually usu-ally more vigorous In the outer and trpper porblous of the tree and this shoukl be used. Cut these, twigs into lengths of about one foot, bunch and tie them in-to in-to convenient bundles, and bury them in moist sand in the cellar until grafting graft-ing time, which may be done at convenience con-venience after vigorous growth of the trees has commenced. The most common and satisfactory method of grafting the older trees is by the cleft graft. This method is suitable for branches two inches and over In size. A simple method of grafting the small twigs about the same size as the cion wiood is by the splice or tongue graft. Whichever method is used, the preparation of the cions is the same. That is, they are cut Into lengths of about four inches (each cion stick stored in the cellar will therefore make three cions) with three or four buds each. In inserting onto the stock care should be taken to i see that the lower end of the clon is attached on the stock and not allow the cion to be placed upside down. 1 This precaution may sound superfluous to some and yet my experience with a great many students has taught me to be sure and caution theiu on this point. For the cleft graft a branch of the tree is carefully sawed off at the desired de-sired point for grafting. With a grafting graft-ing chisel the limb is split open sufficiently suf-ficiently wide to insert the cion sticks whose lower ends have been cut to a wedge shape, leaving the outer side of the wedged part somewhat wider than the inner part. Two cions are usually inserted on each limb over two Indies in diameter. This Is to double the chances of success for if both grow the weaker one is cut out the next year. Now the most important part of the operation pertains & the necessity 0 having tlve cambium laer of the cion fit the cambium layer of the stock. The cambium layer is that tissue which lies just between Uile bark and the wood. It is the active region of growth of the stem. If the cambium layers of the stock and cion do not fit it Is useless to hope for success. However, How-ever, if this phase of the work is carefully care-fully watched, the grafter can perform his work with both hope and confidence. confi-dence. Years of experience with students stu-dents doing cleft grafting for the first time have shown that they ordinarily have about 90 percent success. The operation for the splice graft is simple. A long sloping cut Is made on both the small stock twig and the cion and they are joined together so the cambium layers coincide. The tongue graft is a modified splice graft where a slight split is made on both the cion and stock cut surface so that on joining them together the union will be somewhat more secure. The final stage of tlie operation Is binding the union and applying grafting graft-ing wax. Grafting wax is easily mad by melting together 4 parts by weigh! of resin, 2 parts beeswax, and 1 pari rendered beef or mutton tallow. Aftei the molten condition has been reaches and after boiling for about one minute the hot liquid mass is poured into 8 bucket of cold water. As soon as 11 is cool enough to handle it is taken out and pulled in the same K sfiion as molasses candy. When It ast tmei a light color It is ready for ust To prevent It sticking to Ukt hands i It desirable to rub tallow over the lu ids beib-re handling the wax The wax is used to cover the "ul surfaces and cracks of the grafted parts to prevent drying out and tire entrance of disease or decay. In cleft grafting it is not necessary to bind oi tie the parts for that is done when tin chisel is withdrawn and the parts of the limb clamp together on the cion. But in splice or toague grafting It is necessary to bind the parts by a waxec cord or by raffia.