KXl'EHl.MKMTS — IMI'ROVKD MKTHOD. 18 



donntiiit l)iids iiiado dmino- tlu' present season, toi^ether with ii Imd 

 quite dormant and evidently al)le to persist for some time. In tiie selec- 

 tion of hud wood it is preferable to cut the ])ranches from the tree to 

 be propai»-ated in the early part of the day, choosing,' shoots us hui^-e in 

 diameter as possible and those which show the ufreatest numbiT of 

 short, plump buds. Innnediately on severintf the branches from the 

 tree the jrrowtii of tli(> current season is se\-ered and disearded. and 

 the 1-year-old l)ud sticks are wrapped in tlampened newspapers. If 

 necessary, they can in this manner l)e kept for s(>v(Mal days without 

 danger of dryino- out. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH BUDS OF THE CURRENT SEASON. 



Ill a recent series of buddino- experiments with the current season's 

 buds the work ])eoan dune (5. The l)uds selected were principally the 

 small, plump ones found at the base of the soft wood (1*1. I. Htr. 1, R). 

 At that date the buds were sliirhtly inunaturc; conseciuently, when a 

 large section of bark w'as removed from the wood it showed signs of 

 injury. The cuticle peehnl easily, and even with gretit care in removing 

 buds with sections of bark attached and in i)lacing and tvinir them in 

 position, the percentage of unions was small. I'p to the end of -lulv 

 separate lots of the current year's buds were worked at intervals of 

 one week, the percentage of unions increasing slightly with each 

 week. Patch budding (PI. Ill, tig. 1), which is merely a moditication 

 of annular budding, was the method used. Taking everything into 

 consideration, the results ol)tained could by no means be considered 

 satisfactory. 



AN IMPROVED METHOD OF BUDDING. 



An improved method, which has been demonstrated to be a perfect 

 way in which to bud the pecan and one by the use of which there are 

 very few failures, is as follows: For the reception of the bud make 

 two transverse cuts in the bark of the seedling stock (PI. Ill, tig, 2) a 

 few inches above the ground line, these two cuts, about 1 inch apart, 

 tc be connected b}- a longitudinal incision. The bark at each side of 

 the longitudinal cut is then raised far enough (PI. Ill, fig. 3) to admit 

 of the insertion of the section of bark on wdiich the bud is situated 

 (PI. Ill, tig. 2, A). The rectangular section of bark when prepared for 

 insertion must be of exactly the same length as the cut in the stock. 

 It is taken from the stick of buds by making two transverse cuts 

 through the bark at equal distances from the bud. Two longitudinal 

 cuts are then made through the bark, leaving the bud in the center of 

 the patch, which should be a little over 1 inch long and five-eighths 

 of an inch wide. The patch must be raised carefully from the bud 

 stick to guard against breaking and with as little bending during the 

 operation as possible. When the operator finds that he does not 



