80 



SEEDLI^TG PEOPAGATION OF YAEIETIES. 



Fifr. 18.* 



These facts show that a bud, com- 

 posed, as it is, only of bark, and of 

 alburnum or half-formed wood, pre- 

 senting a great surface of fresh material, 

 will -form a more rapid and complete 

 union with the stock than an ordinary 

 graft. In this country, where thorough- 

 ness in the performance of work is often 

 sacrificed to rapidity, it is the general 

 custom to leave a portion of wood with- 

 in the section of bark connected with 

 the bud, as seen in Fig. 18. This arises, 

 in part, from the difficulty of separating the wood from 

 the bark without disturbing the chit beneath the bud, 

 the retaining of which is essential to success in bud- 

 ding. This small kernel of coagulated albumen, as 

 shown in Fig. 19, is the stored-up material on which 

 the bud feeds when quickened into life, and which 

 connects its A^tality with the wood beneath. To 

 remove this deposit would insure the death of the 

 bud, or at least allow but a feeble growth. By care- 

 lessly taking out the wood from the bud, the chit 

 would adhere to it, and thus be displaced — as in 

 Fig. 20. 



If the wood be left in the bark, as in Fig. 18, the 

 edo^es of the bark of the bud would unite with the 

 stock — the vital circulation being thus established. 

 But this piece of wood .is a foreign substance, and the 

 union will Ije much more perfect when the whole 

 interior surface of the bark of the bud is allowed to 

 come in contact with the wood of the stock. From 



* Fig. IB shows a cut bud w^th the wood remaining, and figure of bud inserted. 



