n: Yes, you must choose a position midway between too dry and
too moist.

Mr. Littlepage: That is very important; they won't stand dampness.

Mr. Pomeroy: Wouldn't it be well to dip the cut end of the walnut scion
in wax to hold the sap?

The Chairman: I am afraid that would stop its breathing. You are dealing
with a red squirrel all the while, remember that.

Col. Sober: My method is this: I have a little room about six feet wide
with ice packs on both sides and double doors. In that I pack my scions
in this way: I take carbide cans made of iron and put damp sawdust,
about an inch or so, on the bottom and then I pack my scions in the
cans, cut end down, then I put the top on loosely. I have carried them
over the second year in that way.

The Chairman: But you let them breathe all the while?

Col. Sober: Certainly, and they have but very little moisture. They are
kept in a temperature of about 40 degrees.

Prof. Smith: How often do you wet that sawdust?

Col. Sober: Not once.

The Chairman: Well, that's in keeping with our theoretical basis.

Col. Sober: I cut scions any time between now and March. I don't take
them out of storage until we use them. We graft up to the middle of
June.

The Chairman: I found some hickory scions that had been accidentally
overlooked, kept under leaves, and the buds in the cambium were
perfectly good after two years. In regard to winter injury--in the
vicinity of Stamford, Conn., the nurserymen reported greater losses of
all kinds in nursery stock than they had had before in their experience.
I noticed that some small branches of the Persian walnuts had been
injured, and particularly where grafts had started a little late and had
not lignified quite thoroughly I lost whatever grafts had not had time
to lignify. Last winter the injuries in our vicinity consisted chiefly
of two kinds; occasional killing of the small branches--this does little
harm because, where the branch is killed and dies back for a certain
distance, we have three or four more branches starting up, so that
perhaps it is not sophistical to say that it does the tree good. We get
a larger bearing area than if it were not for this occasional freezing
of small branches. Another form of injury occurs in the spring. The sap
will start to ascend when we have warm days in February and March; then
a few cold days come and, if we have absolutely freezing temperature at
night, this sap freezes and when it freezes it expan