52 TRANSACTIONS OP THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



4th. Budding can be done more expeditiously than grafting. 



5th. Root grafting can be done in winter, and consequently is 

 not subject to the first objection ; but when scions of strong and 

 rapidly growing varieties are grafted on seedling stocks, they 

 are very liable to burst the bark near the point of junction. 



BUDDING. 



The most successful mode of budding with which we are 

 acquainted may be summed up as follows : 



Select a branch, the terminal bud of which is plump and full. 

 Usually, at least two buds from each end thereof are imperfectly 

 developed, and should be rejected. Cut off the leaves, 

 leaving about half of the foot stalk attached to the 

 branches (fig. 1). Holding the small end toward you, 

 with a sharp, thin bladed knife, cut out the buds, leav- 

 ing about half an inch of bark above and below the eye, 

 as the bud proper is technically called, cutting just deep 

 enough to secure a little wood under the eye. It is not 

 necessary to remove the wood from the bud in working 

 the apple, although with some kinds of fruit trees it is 

 important to do so. 



The best budding-knife is a small one, with a thin 

 blade, round at the end, around half of which the edge 

 extends the remainder of the end, and an inch therefrom 

 Tia. 1. on the back, being quite thin. The lower one-third part 

 of the blade is left dull, that the fore-finger may clasp it. An 

 old-fashioned Barlow knife, with the end properly ground into 

 shape, makes a good budding-knife. A knife of this pattern was 

 first exhibited at the Farmers' Club of the American Institute, 

 in 1859, by A. S. Puller, of Brooklyn. It has been very properly 

 designated " Fuller's Budding Knife." 



On the north side of the stock, four inches above the ground, 

 make a horizontal incision through the bark, being careful not to 

 cut into the wood, of from a quarter to a half inch in 

 length; from the middle of this incision make an incision 

 of an inch downward, so that both incisions, taken toge- 

 ther, shall resemble the letter T (fig- 2). Without remov- 

 ing the knife, insert the back of the blade under the bark, 

 and loosen it to the horizontal incision by an upward 

 movement. Lift the bark on the other side in the same 

 \ way, using care not to injure the alburnum or substance 

 Fio. 2. between the inner bark and the wood. Take hold of the 



