36 



THE AGKIUULTUUAL NEWS. 



February 4, 1911. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



SHIELD BUDDING FOR THE MANGO. 



On pages 100 and 101 of the last volume of the 

 Agricultural Neim, extracts were given from Bulletin 

 No. 20 of the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment 

 Station which describes the propagation of the mango 

 by shield budding. Through the courtesy of Mr. P. J. 

 Wester, of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, the following extracts, supplying further infor- 

 mation in connexion with the subject, are enabled to 

 be given here, from an illustrated article written by 

 him in a recent number of the Rural New Yorker: — 



Shield-budding of the mango has been with partial 

 success practised in Florida for at least six years by experi- 

 menters in the propagation of this fruit; the writer first 

 experimented with this method with some success in 1904 

 The percentage of successful Imds was, however, so low that 

 he did not then feel justified in calling this method to the 

 attention nf the public, and the experimental work was 

 temporarily suspended. 



However, experimentation has been continued by 

 a few men interested in the problem; in some instances 

 meeting with remarkable success. The success achieved 

 by Mr. Orange Pound, Cocoa-nut Grove, Fla., deserves 

 special mention, not only for the difficulties that he 

 has successfull}' surmounted, l)ut for the public-spirited way 

 in which he has placed his data at the disposal of the writer 

 for publication for the information of other mango growers. 

 It is not too much to say that .Mr. I'nund's discovery marks 

 an epoch in the mango industry, not only in Florida, but in 

 other parts of the world. Mr. Pound recently obtained, with 

 this method, over 85 per cent, of healthy trees among a lot of 

 300 plants budded— a most gratifying result. 



Success depends on the prime condition of the stock 

 plant and that the sap is flowing freely; the buds 

 should be .selected from well matured wood that is 

 still green and smooth, of the first, second and third 

 flushes from the terminal liud, and cut rather large, 

 :$ to 5 cm. long (1| to nearly 2 inches). 



The lower, thick part of the leaf stem at the bud should 

 not be trimmed off, but allowed tn remain on the bud until it 

 is .shed voluntarily. If the leaf-stem, or petiole as it is 

 called, is cut too near the bud, fungi frequently gain en- 



trance through the wound, and destroy the bud. It is 

 possible that the leaves can to advantage be trimmed off 

 the bud-wood while it still remains on the tree, and the bud- 

 wood be used after the petioles have dropped, iind the leaf 

 scars are well healed. It appears to be equally satisfactory 

 to push the liuds up or downward. To facilitate the insertion 

 of the bud, it is well to trim off the edge of the horizontal cut. 

 In tying the bud, allow the remnant of the petiole to stick 

 out between the strands of the tape, and protect it and the 

 l>ud from the sun and rain with a square piece of wax cloth, 

 held ill place by one of the strands of the tape aljove the bud. 



It is e.ssential that the buds should lie inserted at a point 

 in the stock where the bark is about the same age as the bud- 

 wood, i.e., green and smooth, and the work done when the 

 plant is in flush. When the union has been effected, which 

 will be in the course of two or three weeks, the stock should 

 be pruned aff about 6 inches above the bud. The buds are 

 sometimes very dilatory about starting, and in order to force 

 them out the plants .should, after the buds have taken, fre- 

 cjuentl}- be gone over, and all adventitious buds rubbed off'. 



In top working old seedling trees, the same principle 

 obtains. I 'art of the main branches are then pruned off to 

 1 to 2 feet from the trunk, and the resulting sprouts are 

 budded ami treated in the manner already described. As the 

 buds increase in size the native top is gradually removed; care 

 should be taken, however, not to prune the tree too severely 

 at one time, as it is then apt to liecome permanently injured, 

 and die from such treatment. 



In, to some extent, employing another method called by 

 the originator slice-budding, matured bud-wood .suffii iently 

 old to have turned brownish or greyish is also used in top- 

 working seedling trees planted at stake. The bark of the 

 part of the slock where the bud is inserted, or more correctly, 

 placed, should exhibit the same character. For all practical 

 purposes this is identical with the chip budding method 

 employed in the proi)ngation of pecans. The work is perform- 

 ed by cutting a slice or chip of bark and wood from the 

 stock in the same manner as if the removed part was to be 

 u.sed as a bud; a shield bud just large enough to make a snug 

 fit is now cut from the bud-stick and placed on the cut, and 

 tied in the usual way. 



In using either of the methods of liudding described 

 above, the stock should at the time of budditig be girdled 

 6 to y inches above the bud. 



