Page:The Olive Its Culture in Theory and Practice.djvu/86

70 of which, at the shoots placed in the crown would be harmful. At Grasse, these branches are called des respirails, and are cut off or grafted the following year.

In Bouche-du-Rhone, shield grafting is the most common; it is now as in the time of Columella, greffe a l'empatre. Grafting on very young trees, is rarely profitable, not from any difficulty in the process, but because, as the roots require a long time to take hold of the soil, an abnormal disturbance of the sap occurs, and the tree sometimes makes a stunted growth.

The Abbe Jamet says:—"I never graft before the sixth year. At the time of gathering, I accompany the man in charge. I examine the trees, and mark those, of which the shape, the barrenness, or the variety does not suit me. The year following, fifteen or twenty days after flowering, I place two shields upon each of the branches forming the head of the tree. Above the graft, I girdle the branch, and take off the bark. The object of this girdling is to stop the ascending sap, and to bring it to the shoot and facilitate its starting.

The branch above the graft may be left one or two years, according to the vigor of the subject. Its leaves and shade will be beneficial to the graft.

The best time for winter pruning is that which follows frosty weather, and which precedes the first movement of vegetation. By early pruning, the sap is made to act upon the buds unfavorably situated upon the tree, it brings, them out, and also developes latent buds upon the old wood. Thus, by early pruning, it is possible to prevent the tree being covered with naked stems. It may be advantageous to wait even to the period when the shoots begin to lengthen upon trees that possess too much vigor, and which would not otherwise be easily put into a fruit bearing condition.

Grafting in wet weather is to be avoided, as the tree is likely to run, a fine day in spring is the best. The new shoots are not generally touched until the year following the lopping of the branch