324 BUDDING. [Sept. 



the beam, with stout plank well secured, and battened across. The 

 process is as simple as it is old amongst sheep-farmers of Essex and 

 the eastern counties of England. The material, cut as short as 

 possible, is carried, say, into the barn, where a number of men and 

 boys, each with a wooden rammer in each hand, ram and tread it 

 hard ; also finely-powdered salt is scattered over it to the extent 

 of about 1 lb. to the cwt. of chaff; while water from a fine rose 

 is at the same time gently showered over it. In warm weather, 

 and with dry chaff, a gallon of water to the cwt. of chaff is used. 

 When the chaff rises in the barn, use only half this quantity of water. 

 The whole mass of chaff treated is every night levelled at top. 

 Heavy planks are laid on, at each filling and settling, to compress 

 it. I use chains fixed to staples in the barn floor ; by fixing a 

 screw jack to a link and taking a bearing on the planks, extra 

 pressure is obtained. So hot does this chaff become after a few 

 days, that the hand cannot be comfortably held in it. It will have 

 cooled down in six or seven weeks, assuming a black bronze colour, 

 with an aromatic fragrance ; it is then fit for use. It has to be 

 opened at the under side ; an American hay-knife being useful for 

 cutting into it. If well covered down, it may be kept for two or 

 three years. 



Waste hay, old malt-dust, fern, lawn-mowings, as well as leaves 

 of mangold-wurzel, pea-hulm, tare-straw, when cut short and added 

 to the matter packed in the silo, increases its appetizing flavour. 



Eye, besides being thus used in the dry silo, when early sown in 

 August, can be sheep -folded ; it may be then in early spring cut 

 green for stock ; afterwards a good plant for seed may be had : so we 

 may count four crops from a plant that grows on poor soils and 

 seldom fails. 



BUDDING. 



THE following is part of a paper read before the American 

 Association of Nurserymen, by Mr. N. H. Albungh, of Ohio : — 

 The Best Method. — The " wise man " has said, " There is a time 

 for all things ; " and nurserymen find the minutiae of their occupation 

 no exception to the rule. Budding is now practised, generally, by 

 nurserymen for all kinds of fruit trees, except the apple, and even 

 there, budding is growing steadily into favour. To secure success 

 in budding, first, the stocks must be healthy, hardy, and of good 

 size. Foreign stocks, for the pear, cherry, plum, and even apple, 

 are generally preferred, though good, healthy native stocks often do 

 as well. The best stand of budded apple I ever saw was upon 

 first-class imported crab -apple seedlings. In planting out the 



