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.