Mr. Philips: Yes, sir, I do a little budding every year. Budding is a hard thing to do, that is, it is a particular thing to get the bud matured enough and still have sufficient sap to slip.
Mr. Street: Would you put it on the top or bottom side of the limb?
Mr. Philips: I would put it on the upper side of the limb every time, but I would put it a little further from the trunk of the tree than I would to graft for the reason, if the bud fails you have two chances, and you have that same limb to cut off and graft next year.
Winesap apples top-worked on Peerless, grown at Northfield, Minn.
Mr. Johnson: I want to ask if it has a tendency to make the apple any earlier? Virginia crab is an early bloomer, and would grafting it with Wealthy make it bloom earlier?
Mr. Philips: I hardly think so. I think it is a great deal as it was with the man that had the boots. Some told him his boots would wear longer if he greased them, and some one else told him they would wear longer if he did not. So he greased one and not the other, and the one that he greased wore fifteen minutes longer than the other. (Laughter.) I don't think it makes much difference. I tell you what it does do. You graft a McMahon onto a Virginia and instead of having the McMahon its usual color, you will get a very nice blush on it.
Mr. Erkel: Is the Duchess a good stock to graft onto?
Mr. Philips: I haven't found it very good. It is hardly vigorous enough for a stock.
Mr. Erkel: You mentioned Patten's Greening a few minutes ago. Isn't that considered a rather short-lived tree?