BUDDING THE PEAR. 9 



four or five inches high, to regular distances, — about ten 

 inches apart. When left too thick, they grow up slender and 

 feeble, and consequently unfit for further use. As one strong 

 seedling is worth twenty poor ones, we must see the impor- 

 tance of thinning out all the weakest plants. Pear-seedlings 

 of one season's growth must be taken up late in the fall, be- 

 fore the ground freezes, and packed close together. Having 

 no side-roots to hold them in the soil, they cannot stand the 

 severity of the hard blasts of winter. The best place to keep 

 them is a dark, cool cellar, where frost will not touch them. 

 In transplanting them in early spring, when the ground is fit, 

 cut back a portion of the tap-roots, and shorten the stem cor- 

 respondingly. Set them out two feet apart in drills, which 

 will give them ample room to throw out lateral roots, and 

 grow strong and stocky. We know of a party in Bradford 

 who lost several hundreds of pear-seedlings by leaving them 

 in the ground the first whiter. If a strong, vigorous growth 

 is obtained after transplanting, they will be fit to bud the 

 same season, — about the middle of August. 



BUDDING. 



Now, then, having procured good healthy stocks to bud on, 

 it will also be necessary to procure good, sound, healthy buds. 

 This can be easily done by selecting, from the varieties that 

 are to be propagated, strong vigorous shoots, free from any 

 disease. Pinch off their tip ends, and let them grow until 

 wanted. This will hasten the development of the buds, and 

 they will be in good condition to use in about two weeks. 

 None but the most prominent buds should be used under any 

 circumstance, as it is this little bud, that is inserted under the 

 bark of the stock, that becomes in future the standard tree. 

 Budding is simple enough when rightly understood. 



The first thing to be done in performing the operation is 

 to remove from the stock any shoots that would be apt to 

 interfere with the insertion of the bud ; then, with the bud- 

 ding-knife, make two incisions in the stock, — one horizontal, 

 and the other perpendicular, — hi the form of the letter T, about 

 two or three inches from the ground; strip off the leaves 

 from the bud-shoot, but leave a portion of the leaf-stock at- 

 tached to the bud to handle it with. In cutting the bud off, 

 hold the shoot in one hand and the budding-knife in the 



