PROP A GA TION. 4 1 



the knife. Different modes are adopted for packing away the 

 grafts. The best is to place them flat in boxes, in alternate 

 layers with sand, like miniature cord-wood, keeping the outer 

 or graft-ends very even, and carrying up each layer separately 

 and one at a time, so that one may be taken up for setting 

 out, without interfering with the next succeeding pile. The 

 sand should be slightly moist but not wet. The varieties 

 should be distinctly marked on strips of board separating 

 each kind, where there is more than one in a box ; and in ad- 

 dition to this, a card should be nailed on the outside, naming 

 the kinds, at the point of separation between them. A record 

 should also be made as they are deposited, of the sorts, their 

 order, and the number of each. Boxes two feet long, a foot 

 wide, and six inches deep, are a convenient size, and will hold 

 from one to two thousand each. If furnished with bow han- 

 dles, they are easily carried at once to the field for setting out. 

 Boxes holding twenty thousand or more keep the grafts equally 

 well, but require additional labor in unpacking when set. 



They should be set out in spring as soon as the soil is suffi- 

 ciently dry, and there is no further danger of its freezing se- 

 verely. Special pains should be taken to pack the earth well 

 about them, as they are dibbled in. The tips of the grafts 

 should project about half an inch above the surface. The 

 proper depth of setting is controlled somewhat by circum- 

 stances ; if deep, the soil may be too cold to start them well ; 

 if not deep enough, the drought of summer may destroy them. 

 An active hand will set two or three thousand in a day, and 

 in rare instances five thousand. 



IV. BUDDING. 



Budding consists in introducing the bud of one tree, with a 

 portion of bark and a little adhering wood, beneath the bark 

 of another, and upon the face of the newly forming wood. It 

 must be performed while the stock is in a state of vigorous 

 growth. An incision is made lengthwise through the bark of 

 the stock, and a small cut at right angles at the top, the whole 

 somewhat resembling the tetter T, Fig. 64. A bud is then 

 taken from a shoot of the present year's growth, by shaving 

 off the bark an inch or an inch and a half in length, with a 



