THE MANGO. 11 



used for cutting through the bark of the stock and marking that of 

 the scion, or vice versa, as it will be found that the bud with a section 

 of bark attached will not fit tightly into the place made for it by the 

 cutter. In the case where the section of bark has to be cut by a knife 

 the marks will indicate just where it is necessary to make the section 

 large, so that a tight tit will be secured. 



METHODS WHICH SHOW BEST RESULTS. 



In the course of the Department experiments the writer discovered 

 that by the use of a method of attaching buds described in the seven- 

 teenth century the liner varieties of the mango, with skillful handling, 

 may be propagated quite as easily as the peach or other fruit tree. 



APPLYING TOE BIDS. 



Two or three-year-old seedlings and moderate-sized trees may be 

 used as stocks on which to bud approved varieties of the mango. The 

 stems selected for the reception of the buds should be at least an inch 

 in thickness. When of this diameter, both wood and bark are thor- 

 oughly ripe, and the union of the scion with the stock will be easily 

 accomplished if the operation of inserting the buds is performed care- 

 fully. The method of budding which has been found to work most 

 satisfactorily (PI. II, lig. 1) consists in removing a rectangular piece 

 of bark from the stock and inserting a piece similar in shape and a 

 trifle larger in size, having a bud in the center, from a branch of a 

 desirable variety. This method of budding was described by Robert 

 Sharrock in his History of the Propagation and Improvement of 

 Vegetables, published in 1672. 



The only departure from Sharrock\s method of budding as used in 

 the case of the mango at the present time is that the bud, instead of 

 being taken from new growth, must be selected from wood old enough 

 to have lost its foliage. This means that the bud wood will sometimes 

 be over 2 years old. The use of bark of this age and even older 

 insures success in budding the mango, as it unites rapidly with bark 

 of a similar age on seedling stocks or on branches of trees. To a cer- 

 tain extent success depends upon the precision with which the section 

 of bark is removed from the stock and also from the variety to be 

 propagated, as the more neatly the bud section is fitted into the space 

 prepared for it the greater the probability of a successful union. 



After the section of bark from the bud stick is nicely fitted in place, 

 and before tying, a small quantity of grafting wax should be smeared 

 over the parts where they come together and tied firmly in place with 

 thick strands of raffia (PI. II, fig. 1, C). This effectually prevents the 

 admission of air to the spaces which, no matter how carefully the 

 operation be performed, exist between stock and scion; it also serves 



