PEACH-TREE. 



235 



li 



may be packed in moistened moss: or if shortly to be used, they may be put 

 into a vessel of water: though in general, they should be used as soon as possi- 

 ble after gathering. Before the buds are prepared, let the stock be made ready 

 to receive them. At the part fixed on for inoculation, which should be smooth, 

 and rather on the northerly side of the stock, make an incision about an inch and 

 a half in length, witli a sharp knife, quite through tiie bark, but not into the 

 wood, in the form of a letter I, as denoted mn--:yii fciirim f' '-^ 



l)y (a), in the adjoining figure. This 

 being done, proceed quickly and take oil' 

 a bud by holding a shoot in one hand 

 with the thickest end from you, and with 

 the knife in the other hand, enter it about 

 three-fourths of an inch below the bud. 

 cutting nearly half way into the wood of 

 the shoot, continuing it with one clean 

 slanting cut, about three-fourths of an 

 inch above the bud, sufficiently deep to 

 take oft' part of the wood along with it, 

 the whole to be about an inch and a half 

 long, as represented by {b) ; then directly 

 with the thumb and finger, or point of the knife, slip off" the woody pan i\iii. lin- 

 ing on the bud, and observe whether the eye or germ of the bud remains perlect ; 

 if not, and a little hole appears in that part, it is unfit for use, or, as the nursery- 

 men say, " the bud has lost its root," and another must be prepared. This 

 being done, place the back part of the bud or shield between your lips, and with 

 the flat haft of the knife, or a piece of ivory or bone formed for the purpose, sep- 

 arate the bark of the stock (a) for the admission of the bud, which must be 

 closely inserted between the wood and bark in the aperture (c.) Then cut off" 

 the top part of the shield containing the bud, even with the upper horizontal or 

 cross-cut of the letter I, in order to let it completely into its place, and exactly 

 join the upper edge of the shield with the bark of the upper transverse cut, so 

 that the descending sap may immediately enter the back of the shield, and 

 deposit granulated matter between it and the wood, so as to effect a living union. 

 The parts are next to be immediately bound round with a water-proof bass liga- 

 ture, or some substitute, as in {d), beginning a little below the incision, proceed- 

 ing upwards closely round every part, except just over the eye of the bud. and 

 sufficiently tight to keep the whole secure, and to exclude the air and moisture, 

 without the use of grafting-wax or clay. In a fortnight, at farthest, after per- 

 forming the operation, such buds as have united may be known by their fresh 

 appearance, and in three weeks, all those which have succeeded, must have their 

 ligatures loosened, and in a week or two more, entirely removed. In order to 

 guard against the borer, (iEgeria,) let there be laid round each tree, in August, 

 about a pint of coarse sand, so as to cover the roots and the tenderest part of the 

 bark; and during the succeeding autumn, the same care should be observed, as 

 in the early part of the season, to preserve the leaves. 



SECOND YEAR. 



March 1st. Cut off" the tree in a slanting direction, about five inches above the 

 point of inoculation ; and let about a quart of the same kind of sand be placed 

 round the root of the tree, as in the summer preceding. .Inly 1st. (^lear the 

 groiuid of weeds, and treat the shoot from tlic inoculated hud precisely as the 

 original stock was the first year, with the same care to preserve the leaf at the 

 base of each side-shoot, taking off" from time to lime, as they put forth, all the 



