BOYS' OWN COLUMN

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOYS' OWN COLUMN

PEACHES ON A PLUM TREI. THE ART OF GRAFTING AND BUDDING. DiiJf 53oys,— If an apple fell off a Northern Spy tree, seeded, grew uj* and bore fruit, what would it be? No, this is really not a riddle, nor is the obvious answer "another Northern Spy" correct. As a matter of Fact it is most unlikely that the seedling apple would be a Northern Spy. But let's start at the beginning and delve deep into t&e arts of the nurseryman. To the uninitiated there is a wealth of most interesting matter awaiting research and home experiment. If you follow this letter closely it will be possible for every reader to have in his garden a tree bearing both peaches and plums. , If you go to a nurseryman and purchase a young Delicious apple tree, you can rest assured that, although the fruit will be true Delicious, the trunk and roots of the tree are probably Northern Spy. This latter tree, for some reason at present unknown, resists the attack of that destructive pest the woolly aphis, and so is used as the "foundation" in most commercial orchards. All varieties of apples in the world to-day spring from the wild crab apple tree, and Pippins, Jonathans, Spys, and scores of other varieties have been evolved by a process of crocs fertilisation, that is by mixing the pollen of one tree with the pollen of another, either by bees or by artificial means. We will imagine that by this means an orchardist evolves a new apple, which he calls "Jones' Special." It is known that if the seed of this apple were sown the resultant fruit would not be a "Jones' Special," but a "throw-back" to one of the varieties which went to make up the new strain. How, then, may further "Jones' Special" trees be procured? It has been discovered and may be accepted as an axiom that "as the bud, so will be the fruit." In other words, a Northern Spy bud can bear only Northern Spy fruit; similarly a "Jones' Special" bud must produce fruit peculiar to the "Jones' Special" tree. With this knowledge at his disposal the nurseryman can produce innumerable "Jones' Special" trees by one of two means. In the first place he can graft a small branch of the new tree on to any other apple tree, or else he may transfer a bud only on to the new parent tree and rest in absolute security that the resultant fruit will be a "Jones' Special" apple. Budding takes place in the autumn before the sap falls, and grafting is performed with tKe rising sap in spring. But there is another big difference between grafting and budding. To graft it is essential to cut off, close to the ground, the trunk of the parent tree, and insert the young twig between the bark and the wood at the cut; but to bud it is necessary only to insert a new bud anywhere under the bark of the foster parent, whilst the rest of the tree remains intact. Later on, when it is seen that the bud has "taken," the old top is cut off and the sap concentrates on the new growth. This process is shown pictorially elsewhere on this page, and as now is the time to bud you could have lots of fun experimenting in your own garden. Suitable trees for budding are given in a table elsewhere on this page. Any reader who is interested in this work and who requires additional advice has only to write to me, enclosing a stamped addressed envelope, if a personal, reply is _ required.