Trees up to three inches in diameter may have the whole top cut off, at the risk of occasionally shocking a tree to death. Such complete cutting back must be done in the dormant season or there will be severe and prolonged bleeding. This method has the advantage of forcing a tremendous growth in the grafts which will need careful support. This is much more easily done however, than when the grafts are in the top of the tree. Cutting back in the dormant season and painting with paraffine has not worked well for me as the paraffine has not adhered well for any length of time to the freshly cut surfaces. Probably this could be easily remedied if it were a real advantage. In the case of small stocks and branches where there is no bleeding and the paraffine adheres well green callus will often be seen spreading out beneath the paraffine over the cut surface.

Stocks should be vigorous. Dwarfed, stunted, submerged, hide bound trees make poor stocks. This is important, I believe.

Scions

The condition of the scion is the most important element for success in top-working hickory trees. The technique of grafting has been so simplified as to make it fairly easy, and native stocks are usually vigorous. But unless the scions have full vitality success will be limited. They should be plump and not pithy. A limited success is possible with scions of feeble growth, or those subjected to devitalising influences in keeping or handling, but the largest success will be had with well grown scions, cut from vigorous trees or grafts, whose buds are completely dormant, and have a fresh, green appearance on cutting. When the cambium layer shows a yellowish or brownish tint the scions are useless. Slender wood may make good scions but is more difficult to keep in good condition. Heavy wood from vigorous, young, grafted trees, or from cut back trees, makes the best scions and is the easiest to keep. Wood more than 1 year old and as large as one can handle makes good scions. Dr. Morris, with the use of the plane, has succeeded with astonishingly large scions and even branches. Sometimes buds are absent from these large scions or are very inconspicuous. They may be searched for with a lens.

Preferably scions should be cut when entirely dormant. Buds that show signs of breaking should be removed. Scions cut after growth starts may be used with success if there are dormant buds. This "immediate grafting," as Dr. Morris calls it has not been fully studied. It may be of great value. It is quite successful with the apple and the pear. It appears to depend chiefly on the presence of dormant buds of vitality.

The later in the season the dormant scions are cut the shorter the time they have to be kept, though probably this is not of importance if the method of keeping is right.

Keeping Scions

The larger the scion the easier it is to keep it. Dr. Morris cuts whole branches and keeps them in the sawdust of his icehouse. I have cut them two inches in diameter and kept them lying uncovered on the barn cellar floor into the second summer looking fresh and green. The smaller the scion the more susceptible it is to moisture environment. Scions must be kept where it is neither too moist nor too dry. Usually the mistake is made of keeping them too moist. The buds may start if the scions are too moist even when the temperature is quite low. This happened for me when I stored scions for a week or two in the very cold bottom of an icebox. The most successful grafters keep scions with a sort of intelligent neglect. Dr. Morris buries them in the sawdust of his icehouse and it seems to make no difference if ice is there or not. I once tried keeping them in an icehouse over the ice and they became soaking wet. I have noticed that Dr. Morris's sawdust seems quite dry. Mr. Jones keeps some, at least, of his in bins or barrels covered with burlap bags. He says that heartnut scions keep best not packed away but kept in the open cellar. I notice that Mr. Jones has been using some kind of mill planings in place of sphagnum moss. Branches and large scions will keep well in a medium that seems dry to the touch. Small scions, such as those cut from old parent trees, require careful handling to prevent shriveling, on the one hand, or bud starting on the other. A low temperature is probably desirable, but the right condition of moisture is essential to the proper keeping of scions for any length of time. I should naturally prefer to keep them in darkness, but I am not sure that it is important. Undoubtedly the access of some air is necessary but it would be difficult to keep it altogether away. I do not know how long scions would keep if entirely covered with paraffine. One year I dipped all the cut ends of my scions in melted paraffine but I am not sure that it is worth the trouble. One year I packed away my scions in rather moist sphagnum moss. The first time I looked at them they were enmeshed in mold mycelium. Later many of the buds started to grow. As suggested by Mr. Jones, dipping either the scions or the moss in half strength Bordeaux mixture will remedy the mold trouble. Parenthetically, this should be of help in keeping chestnuts, chinkapins, and other nuts that spoil easily with mold, for planting in the spring. Packing scions tightly and heavily covered in boxes for any length of time has been, in my observation, disastrous. In shipping scions a method advised, and one that I have followed with satisfaction, is to wrap the scions, either separately or together, in paraffine paper without any packing next the scions but putting it, instead, outside the paraffine paper. This packing may be sphagnum moss or mill planings slightly moistened. This also is wrapped in a moisture impervious covering and then in ordinary wrapping paper. For shipping long distanced the moss or planings should be dipped in half strength Bordeaux mixture.

The surface of the bark of scions that are being kept should always be dry, never moist. But they should never be so dry as to look shrivelled. Until you know just what scions will do under the conditions you provide you should examine them frequently.

Equipment