to graft stump sprouts or to insert the slot bark
graft into the stump near the ground. When this has been done the larger
hickories do not send up stump sprouts at all and the root dies
excepting in cases in which a slot bark graft has been introduced. The
graft grows slowly without a great degree of vigor and requires so many
years for balancing the root that the method has not been practical up
to the present time. The same statement is true of the shagbark hickory
which has been trimmed back very severely leaving nothing but the stubs
of large branches to be grafted immediately or for the purpose of
grafting sprouts in the following year. The bark of the shagbark hickory
is so hard that new shoots are choked severely and many years are
required before they have a secure hold upon the stock. My final
conclusion is that we may cut shagbark limbs having a diameter of three
inches or less for the purpose of leaving grafting stubs. If a large
number of grafts are inserted in such a topworked tree or in stock
sprouts which start and are grafted in the following year the work is
successful. In order to avoid the labor of topworking a large shagbark
tree in its entirety we may graft only one or two limbs and allow stock
sprouts to grow on other limbs until both stock sprouts and graft
sprouts have become well branched. Branches carrying stock sprouts may
then be removed a few at a time year after year, leaving the graft
sprouts in charge finally.

By means of the bark slot method of grafting grafts may be inserted in
any part of a hickory tree. The bark slot method consists in using a
chisel and mallet for cutting parallel lines the width of the scion in
the bark of the stock. The tongue of bark between the parallel lines is
pried outward with the point of the chisel until the scion has been
inserted next the wood and the tongue of bark is then allowed to return
to place, leaving the scion interposed between the tongue of bark and
the wood. Rules which apply to the shagbark may be applied to all of the
hickories with which I have experimented. When cutting back the limbs in
preparation for topworking it is well to leave as many as possible of
stubs or branches of small diameter. Branches of small diameter may be
grafted by ordinary cleft grafting methods but branches of larger
diameter should be treated by the bark slot method. At the present time
and in the locality of my country place at Stamford, Connecticut, melted
para