162 ON BUDDING AND GRAFTING THE RHODODENDRON, ETC. 



ting freely, and it is in vain to attempt introducing a bud by forcing 

 up the bark. The bud should be chosen from a vigorous young 

 plant; the shoots from old trees have not so much sap or vitality ; 

 and the bud should be chosen when the bark is beginning to assume 

 a ripe colour ; if too ripe, it does not rise so freely from the bark, and 

 vitality is beginning to get dormant ; if too green it is apt to perish 

 before uniting to the stock. The buds should be tied as soon as pos- 

 sible after the operation, to exclude air from the wounds ; but if the 

 stocks are vigorous, drawing very tight is not of so much consequence 

 here as in grafting. When buds are nearly ripe, in which state they 

 succeed best, the piece of wood which unites the bud to the branch 

 is apt to break off far in, and leave the appearance of a hollow eye. 

 Some operators attach great importance to this, and say that, though 

 the bark live and unite, the bud will not push in the spring ; but I 

 have frequently inserted buds with very hollow eyes, and marked 

 them for the purpose of experiment, and they always pushed as well 

 as the others ; the sap of the tree should soon fill this hollow. Much 

 of the success also depends on having the edges of all the cuts smooth, 

 and the operation done as speedily as possible ; if the edges of the 

 wound are rough, the vessels of the liber, where the living principle 

 is most active, are bruised and lacerated ; and, if long exposed to the 

 air, they begin to spoil. The common method of extracting buds is 

 to cut away a piece of the shoot, and afterwards extract the wood ; 

 but this destroys the very sharp edge of the knife, and the cut will 

 invariably be found more or less rough. The bark should be cut all 

 round the bud to the shape and size wanted, and the thumb pressed 

 against the cut portion, at the side of the bud ; if the shoot is growing 

 and healthy, the bud will separate freely, and there will be no lace- 

 ration of the edge ; the bark will be cut as smooth as a piece of 

 cheese, and the edge of the knife will be kept sharp, as no wood 

 needs to be cut through. As far as mechanical operation is concerned, 

 this cutting smooth is of far more importance than any method of 

 inserting the bud ; if the bud does not squeeze freely off the branch 

 with the side of the thumb, it is very doubtful of succeeding. 



Much of the success of grafting depends on keeping the alburnum, 

 or newest layers of wood and liber, or inner bark of the stock and 

 graft, closely united and pressed together, till a complete union takes 

 place ; it is in the bark and soft wood that the development is most 



