202 TEE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



the shoot ; indeed, nothing can he more objectionable, more un- 

 natural in its appearance, or more unworkmanlike, than to see buds 

 inserted two or three inches from the main stem. Sometimes it 

 may be wished to insert two buds on a stock which has but one 

 shoot, in order to have "a greater chance of one growing,'' or to 

 "form a larger bead in a shorter space of time." Generally they 

 are then inserted one above another, and, if they both grow, the 

 object of getting a larger head is defeated by the top bud robbing 

 the other of all its nourishment. If the top one only should happen 

 to grow, the scar where the other was inserted often produces a dis- 

 ease ; or, if the bottom one only should grow, then good-bye to the 

 larger head. It is preferable to insert them side by side, and 

 tolerably closie to each other. If the buds be short, and inserted 

 closely and firmly to the main stem, the ligature need not be carried 

 round the shoot more than twice, and thus a great saving of time is 

 effected. 



I have no fault to find with bass matting for the tying in of the 

 bud, excepting from its liability to break while being used. To 

 avoid this, I prefer using coarse worsted, such as is used for oil 

 lamps, by using which the tying is performed more expeditiously. 

 After the buds are inserted, the shoots on which they are placed 

 should be cut in about one-third of their length ; if the bark 

 "runned hard" (in which case it would be hardly worth while to 

 bud at all), one-half. After the inserted bud has begun to swell, 

 the shoot should be cut to within an eye or two of the place of 

 insertion ; this will give the bud encouragement to form a good head 

 before the winter. If the bud be inserted late in the autumn, the 

 shoot should not be cut back. If buds be procured, and it is not 

 found possible to bud them that day, they should not be put into 

 water to be preserved, but in a tin box (a botanical box ought to be 

 an essential in every tool-house). They will then keep for a fort, 

 night or more, and it' they be put into water for a few hours before 

 they are wanted, say three hours, they will succeed as well as though 

 they were inserted immediately they were cut off. I do believe that 

 the failures in budding are as often attributable to the long immer- 

 sion of the buds in water as to all other unfavourable circumstances 

 united. In sending buds on a long journey, they should be sent in 

 a tin box without any moss or other et cetera around them ; if I had 

 not that convenience, I would prefer packing them in dry moss. I 

 recollect once receiving a parcel of rose-shoots for budding from 

 Paris. They w T ere evidently first moistened or sprinkled with water, 

 and afterwards folded in what I guessed to be seakale leaves, and 

 then the whole was wrapped in a piece of canvas. It was placed 

 under the protection of a gentleman just then leaving France for 

 England, but who by some circumstance was afterwards detained 

 some days longer than he expected. The roses at length arrived 

 with him, having been between a week and a fortnight on their 

 journey, and on being opened the whole was found to be a mass of 

 rottenness ; the very names' on the parchment were illegible. About 

 a dozen buds grew, with a loss, probably, of hundreds. If these 

 shoots had been packed in dry moss, they might have remained 



