HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 37 



CHAPTER IV. 



HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT.* 



In transferring a scion of some choice variety to a new 

 and independent life on a strange stock there are two 

 modes of procedure either to bud or graft the one upon 

 the other. Grafting and budding are almost identical, 

 save in the mode of approach of scion to stock; in the 

 former whole twigs, or even large branches, are used as 

 scions ; in the latter, only the little dormant buds that lie 

 perdu in the axil of every leaf. In grafting the top of the 

 tree is cut off, usually close to the ground; in budding 

 only the tips of the growing branches are pinched off 

 and right there lies the secret of the universal preference 

 for budding over grafting for if the bud refuses, as we 

 may say, to suckle its foster mother, the tree is not inj ured 

 in the least, and, if the season permits, another trial may 

 be made at once ; while if the graft fails, the stock has at 

 best been put back a year or two in its growth and indeed 

 may never recover from the shock at all. 



The operation of propagating varieties by budding is 

 full of mystery and wonder. We take a tiny bud, not 

 even developed so as to be visible to the eye, but given a 

 growing leaf we know that it conceals this embryo bud at 

 its base. We cut a slit in the bark of a tree, and cutting 

 off this tiny bud slip it into the aperture, and from this 

 invisible germ a great tree in time springs forth, bearing 

 fruit like unto its parent. How is it done? We know 

 that it is, just as we know that our hearts beat, our lungs 

 innate ; we can see the outward result, and watch its prog- 



' By permission of the Florida Agriculturist, in which this chapter was 

 originally published. 



