Mr. Brackett:  How many of those large limbs could you cut off in one year and graft?

Mr. Philips:  Cut about half of the growth of the tree if not too large, don’t cut enough to weaken the tree too much.  Next year cut the balance off.

Mr. Crosby:  In grafting, suppose you get scions from an Eastern state, what time would you get those scions, say, from Maine; Maine is on a parallel with Minnesota?

Mr. Philips:  I prefer cutting scions in the fall before they freeze.

Mr. Crosby:  How would you keep those scions?

Mr. Philips:  I have tried a great many ways, in dirt and burying them in the ground, but the best way to keep them is to put them in boxes and put some leaves among them.  Leaves will preserve them all winter if you keep them moist enough, wet them a little once in ten days just to keep them damp.  Leaves are a more natural protection than anything else.  Don’t you think so, Mr. Brackett?

Mr. Brackett:  Yes, sir.

Mr. Crosby:  What kind of a graft do you usually make?

Mr. Philips:  I have put in some few whip-grafts but use the cleft-graft with the larger limbs.

Mr. Wallace:  Is the Patten Greening a good tree to graft onto?

Mr. Philips:  It is better for that than most anything else where I live.  It is hardy and makes a good growth.  If I had Patten Greenings, many of them, I would top-work them.  The apple is not a good seller where I live.

Mr. Kellogg:  What was the condition of that tree where Dartt put in four scions?

Mr. Philips:  They grew eight inches each in two years, then died.  Those scions were too weak to take possession of the big limb.  It is like putting an ox yoke onto a calf.  They can’t adapt themselves.  They hadn’t strength to take hold of that limb and grow.  That was a good illustration.  Put a graft on a small limb, and it will assimilate and grow better than if you take a large one.

Mr. Brackett:  Where you put in more than one scion in a limb, is it feasible to leave more than one to grow?

Mr. Philips:  No, not if they grow crotchy.  I let them grow one year to get firmly established and then I take off the lower one.  I have trees in my garden I have done that with, and you couldn’t see the crotch.  It grows right over.

Mr. Brackett:  I have seen a great many of them where both of them were growing.

Mr. Philips:  It makes a bad tree, as bad as a crotchy tree.

Mr. Kellogg:  Isn’t it better to dehorn it and get some new shoots to graft?

Mr. Philips:  Yes, sir, and if they are very old the best way is to set out new trees.

Mr. Crosby:  In getting scions are there any distinguishing marks between a vigorous scion and one not vigorous?

Mr. Philips:  Nothing, only the general appearance.  If I see a scion that looks deficient I pass it by.

Mr. Erkel:  Would it be practical to use water shoots for scions?