38 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 



ress, but as to what mysterious inner force is at work to 

 accomplish the marvelous result, who can say ? 



We know that it is the cambium or proper juice of veg- 

 etables that serves as the means of junction between the 

 scion and the stock this is why they must be of similar 

 nature. Just exactly as in ourselves the two lips of a 

 wound are drawn together by the coagulable lymph which 

 the blood deposits between them, but we do not know how 

 nor by what inner force this result is attained. 



Examine carefully the wound of a bud when it has 

 "taken," about two weeks after the operation, and you 

 will observe a thin layer of small, green granulations in 

 the midst of a viscid fluid, and joining the two parts that 

 have thus been successfully brought together. These gran- 

 ulations are the rudiments of vegetable organization, and 

 are deposited by the cambium, soon becoming fully solidi- 

 fied and complete ; and wherever there is a wound on a 

 tree you will find this knitting going on, just like the 

 mending of a bone in a human being, provided that the 

 air has been carefully excluded from the wound. 



Before entering upon the practical details of the usual 

 methods of budding let us fully understand the several 

 requirements necessary for its successful operation. 



First of all, both scion and stock should be in active 

 growth, both should be strong and healthy, as otherwise 

 the value of the future tree would be seriously impaired ; 

 the scion should be taken from fully matured shoots of the 

 current year's growth of a bearing tree, and always from 

 the lateral branches, as they, for some unexplained reason, 

 will produce fruit much sooner than a scion from the 

 uppermost branches ; also, where it is practicable to place 

 a bud with fruit already growing on it in the stock, fruit 

 will be obtained much sooner than by the simple bud 

 alone. We have just shield-budded a Sicily lemon, with 



