i6 



IRISH GARDENING 



A IT. 11 ST 



PronaL^ati 



oil m niKUiinLl. 



Uklcl; 



" )'(>it .><r, .VT<'('</ utiiid, :.'<• marry 

 A i;;fntlr <cion In the tvildesl stock ; 

 And niitkc cunct'ivc a bark of' baser kind 

 By bud of nobler rate ; this is an art 

 U'/iieh does mend nature : rhani^e if rather ; hul 

 The art itself is nature." SllAKKSPEARK. 



BinniXd as an art lias boL-n practised 

 trom ihc iL-ir.otcst histiM-ical linu's. 

 " Columella, •■ a celebrated Roman 

 authoiity lixinj^ in the tiist eenturx o\ the 



:an be successfully 

 the many who do 

 .•nerally confined to 

 •s. With resj-iect to 



In the 

 especial 1\ 

 what we s 

 subject ant 

 upon many 



^^ 



jy 



present era, in referring to the subject of 

 " Emplastration " (the name used for budding-), 

 said that (even then) the operation was of 

 ancient origin. It is. therefore, one of the 

 oldest artificial methods of altering the charac- 

 ter of a tree — a method the real biological 

 meaning of which is described so wonderfully 

 and with such supreme insight in the quotation 

 with which we introduce this note. 



The art of budding is really very simple, and 

 one often wonders why it is not more exten- 

 sively practised by our amateur gardeners. 



Most shrubs and trees 



oper.'iteil upon, but with 



practice it the work is 14 



rose bushes and Iruit trei 



the latter budding is rapidly rejilacing grafting 



so lar as nursery stock is concerned. It can 



be peiformetl so much more rapidh . 



-iiesent case we are wiiting moie 

 lor the amatein- in the hope that 

 ^.l\• will excite ;in interest in the 

 u'lHise a tlesiie to pr.ictice the art 

 md \aried subjects. Budding is 

 k\o\\\: during the summer 

 when, owing to the 

 cambium being lull ol 

 sap, the " bark " e.isih 

 tears .away from the 

 \oung wood. The cam- 

 bium, as all gardeners 

 know, is a thin cylinder 

 of very actively growing 

 and dividing "cells" 

 lying between the wood 

 and inner bark. It is 

 the cambium that forms 

 all the new wood antl 

 new bast of each year, 

 and is, therefore, the 

 centre and origin of prac- 

 tically all new growths 

 thatgiveincreased thick- 

 ness to the stems and 

 branches. 



The main idea, then, 

 in "budding" is to 

 remove a bud (with a 

 shred o'i bark attached) 

 from one variety of tree, 

 and by making suitable 

 incisions and uplifting 

 of bark in the stem of 

 another variety of the same species to so insert 

 the bud in the latter as to place its bark in the 

 same position as will exactly correspond with 

 its original position in the stem from which it 

 was removed. When the strip of bark carrying 

 the bud is removed it will have on its inner or 

 wounded surface a layer of living cambium 

 cells. When the slit bark on the stock is 

 uplifted the cambium is torn, but a layer of 

 uninjured cells are left covering the surface of 

 the wood. Now, when these two living layers 

 of cambium are brought into close contact and 



