BUDDED TREES OR SEEDLINGS. 65 



doubt a fine variety of fruit, but the identical variety we 

 have selected as preferable. Surely this one advantage 

 alone should be sufficient to tip the scale in favor of the 

 budded tree. It is no slight thing to know for a certainty 

 that, after several years' expenditure of care, money, and 

 patience, we have secured the most desirable varieties of 

 fruit. 



Not many years since the sour orange was the favorite 

 for budding stock; of late, however, the scarcity of this 

 tree has led to experiments which tend to prove that there 

 are several kinds of stock to be preferred to the sour 

 orange. 



There are several strong objections to this wild stock 

 from the hammocks. First and this is a very impor- 

 tant matter it is almost impossible to secure a sufficient 

 quantity of roots in comparison to the size of the trunk ; 

 again, they have grown up from seed to maturity in rich 

 land, protected from sun and wind by the dense foliage 

 around them, and when they are transplanted to a grove 

 they suffer from change of habit. If they live at all their 

 growth is feeble and sickly. They will put out, perhaps, 

 a few sprouts, and then stand still for months or even 

 years, the vitality of the trunk being exhausted, and the 

 roots not having sufficient life to supply further nutri- 

 ment. 



As an example we give an instance of our own personal 

 experience : Five years ago we set out a grove of sour 

 stocks, taken from the hammock to be budded in due 

 time on pine land, at an expense of one dollar each. A 

 few of the transplanted stumps died almost immediately. 

 The others lingered on, just alive, most of them too feeble 

 to take a bud. After two years of lost time and patience, 

 the majority were pulled up and thrown away, to be re- 

 placed by thrifty budded trees from the nursery. This 



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