148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



extend and strengthen, each depending upon the other for suste- 

 nance, and even for existence. There is reason to believe tliat 

 every root so formed has its corresponding part above, and that 

 every extension of the stem has its corresponding roots, and that 

 whatever affects one of these affects the other. Were this truth 

 realized by orchardists, we should see less misuse of the knife and 

 saw in mangling trees under color of pruning ; and we should see 

 a wholly different plan followed in the grafting of grown trees 

 from that so often adopted, of at once removing the whole top. 

 We shall have occasion to refer again to this in treating of pruning 

 and grafting. 



A stem possesses the property of forming along its surface, 

 divers minute vital points, of the same nature as the one in which 

 the stem itself originated. These become Icof-buds, each one capa- 

 ble of becoming a stem or a branch like the one upon which it was 

 formed, and capable also of becoming, under favorable circum- 

 stances, an independent plant or tree. Each of these buds is 

 usually nourished by a leaf which springs from the bark just below 

 the bud, the latter growing in the axil thus formed. 



It is by means of these leaf-buds that propagation by budding, 

 by grafting, by cuttings or by layers, is cfTccted. When a bud, or 

 a scion with several buds on it, is inserted into another plant, under 

 favorable condiiions, they produce wood wiiich unites with that to 

 which it is joined. A cutting or a layer placed in the soil, emits 

 roots into the soil. In either case we have a new plant, possessing 

 leaves precisely similar to. those of the parent stock. Sometimes, 

 and oftener with some species than with others, these vital points 

 or buds are formed and developed along the root and shoot upward 

 from it. These are known in the nursery as root suckers, and arc 

 sometimes resorted to for propagation of fruit trees, especially t])C 

 plum and pear, but they make trees much inferior to seedlings, and 

 should never be used where seedlings can be obtained. 



The leaf buds of fruit trees rarely push into growth during the 

 season in which they arc formed. Tlie succeeding year a part of 

 them grow into branches, but not all. As the original embryo 

 remains for a time latoMit in the seed, so le.if-buds may remain dor- 

 mant for ai> indefinite length of time without losing their vitality. 

 The terminal bud and those near the end of the shoot, if the wood 

 be fully ripe, and has not been injured by the winter, are most read- 

 ily excited into growth, and those nearest its base are the most 



