56 BUDDING. 
& 
cutting at a time when the sap is in motion; to fix the end which is 
to send out roots, firmly in the soil; to keep it in an equal tempera- 
ture both as regards heat and moisture ; to cut off part of the leaves. 
and to shade. the whole, so as to prevent too much evaporation, with- 
out excluding the light, which is wanted to stimulate the plant; to 
keep the soil moist, but not too damp; and to pot off the young 
plants as soon as they begin to grow. 
Budding has been compared to sowing a seed ; but it may rather 
be considered as making a cutting with a single eye, and inserting it 
in another tree, called the stock, instead of in the ground. A young 
shoot of the current year’s wood is cut off in the latter end of July or 
August, or perhaps, if the season should be very moist, the first week 
in September; and incisions are made longitudinally and across, on 
each side, above and below a bud, so that the bud may be cut out, 
attached to an oblong piece of wood and bark, pointed at the lower 
end. The leaf is then taken off, but the footstalk is left on. 
The next thing is to separate the bark with the bud attached from 
the wood; and on the nicety of this operation much depends, as if 
any wood be left in the bark the bud will not take; generally, how- 
ever, if the sap be in a proper state of movement, the wood comes 
out easily, without leaving the smallest particle behind. The bud 
must be then examined below, that is, on the side that was next the 
wood; and if it appears fresh and firm, it is likely to take, but if it 
looks shrunk and withered, it had better be thrown away, as it will 
never grow. Slits longitudinal and across are then made in a shoot 
of the stock, generally near the fork of a branch; and the bark is 
gently raised by the handle of the budding knife, which is purposely 
made thin and flat, while the piece of bark to which the bud is at- 
tached is slipped into the opening, and the bark of the stock closed 
over it. This is an operation that requires the greatest nicety and 
exactness ; as unless the inner bark of the bud fits quite closely to 
the soft wood of the stock, it is in vain to hope that it will take. 
The operation is then completed by binding the two parts together 
with a strand or strip of bast mat, which in the case of rose trees is 
quite sufficient; but buds on apple and pear trees are sometimes 
wrapped round with wet moss, which is tied on by sl eds of bast 
matting. In all cases, the strips of bast should be left long enough 
to be tied with bows and ends, that the ligature may be loosened, and 
tied again without deranging the position of the bud, as soon as if 
