BUDDING i85 



cess is as follows : The bud is held between the left 

 thumb and finger with the eye pointing downwards. 

 The thumb-nail of the same hand is pressed over the 

 eye, and with the right thumb and finger the piece of 

 stem is jerked out. The lower end of the bud is then 

 pushed gently beneath the bark at the upper end of 

 the T cut, the horizontal cut enabling this to be done 

 without difficulty. The thin end of the bone handle of 

 a budding knife is used for the purpose of raising the 

 edges of the bark of the T cut. Finally the bud is 

 pushed beneath the edges of the bark until the end of 

 the T cut is reached. 



If a piece of bark is left protruding, this must be 

 cut off near the cross-cut. It will readily be seen that 

 a very light touch is needed throughout the whole 

 operation. When the bud is in its place it is bound up 

 with raffia. After a month the latter may be removed 

 and retied rather less tightly. If the bud has " taken " 

 it will look red and plump ; if it has failed, another bud 

 may be inserted in another shoot or, in the case of 

 dwarf stocks, on the opposite side of the root stock. 



On standard stocks three or four shoots are retained ; 

 two are budded, then if one fails another is budded. If 

 two buds " take " on each standard they are sufficient, 

 although three, or even four, may be inserted, each of 

 a different variety if desired. However, this method 

 is not usually very satisfactory. 



Dwarf stocks are budded as close to the root as 

 possible. Nothing is done to them until February of 

 the next year, when the tops are cut off quite close to 



