(Paul White now gives demonstration of top working.)
MR. RIEHL: I would like to say a few things right here, I don't want to be thought altogether idle. I live in Illinois, your neighboring state. I have learned lots of good things here and I want to give a little. I have been experimenting in the nut business for some time; I have studied propagation and there is one point I think will be new to you. I had difficulty in propagating hickories and pecans until I got the thought of hermetically sealing the scion. I first used gum shellac, but later I found that by covering the scion with grafting wax completely it serves the same purpose as the paper. It takes the place of all that wrapping, except right at the wound, and does away with the sacks. I have tried them and I much prefer covering with grafting wax. Your buds will come right through the wax, and you don't have to bother about taking off the sacks, and there is no danger of leaving the sacks on too long.
THE PRESIDENT: That is a very good suggestion, Mr. Riehl. There might be some discussion of that. It occurs to me that with that method it is very essential you have the right kind of grafting wax, otherwise it might injure your bark. Are there any suggestions or questions before we finish the grafting demonstration?
MR. RIEHL: I wish to emphasize the fact that the wax must not be too hot.
THE PRESIDENT: What is your formula, Mr. Riehl?
MR. RIEHL: Four of resin, two of beeswax and one of linseed oil.
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any further questions?
MR. DORR: Suppose I wanted to get a certain variety of tree by grafting. For instance if I couldn't buy the white Heath Cling peach then my only resource would be to bud on another tree. But suppose I struck a nursery where I could get good seedlings of this tree. Wouldn't a natural tree be preferable to the budded one?
THE PRESIDENT: There are no true seedlings, so far as I know.
MR. DORR: Do you mean there are none at all true to seed?
THE PRESIDENT: No, nut trees do not come true to variety. In other words, Mr. Dorr, I might put it this way. In the big Green River orchard over here there are some of the very best pecan trees, but those of us who have been observing them for years have found it is only through propagation we can get a Green River and a Major. It would be a failure to get the nuts and plant them and hope to get the varieties that exist there, just as it would to plant some nut that grows a hundred miles away, because the pollen up and down the river would mix in these varieties. It is the same way with the walnut, when you undertake to plant an English walnut and get it true to the seed, you are going to have a failure. If you plant a Rush walnut you may get a nut that resembles it but there is no probability of its being a true Rush walnut. That is why we have these discussions of budding and grafting. We should be glad if seedlings would come true but they do not. I will show you tomorrow, at Enterprise, the great variety of seedling pecans, and I want you to look them over well.