88 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



in the following August and September. The Crab stocks 

 are ready to bud before the Paradise stocks ; and the work 

 can be started when the shoots (or scions) of the varieties 

 which are to be propagated are about three parts grown. 

 The point of the scion shoot, being useless, can be cut off 

 as far as it is sappy or green, and some six to eight buds 

 at the base of the shoot, being dormant, should not be used. 

 All the leaves may be removed, leaving the leaf-stalks on 

 the scion for ease in handling the selected bud, which 

 should be removed by making a slanting cut under the bud 

 into the hard wood, starting inch above the bud and 

 drawing out i inch below the bud. 



This is best done by taking the scion in the left hand 

 and holding it firmly on the thumb as a fulcrum. The 

 knife is then held in the right hand, and the bud is scooped 

 out by using the knife in a slanting position. The knife 

 should be very sharp, as the cut must be clean. The loop- 

 like bud is then taken in the first finger and thumb of 

 the left hand, and with the forefinger of the right hand 

 the woody part is separated from the bark, leaving only, 

 as it were, the skin remaining. If the base of the pin (or 

 young bark bud) is then level with the green inside bark, it 

 is a good one ; but if in removing the wood this pin comes 

 out with it and leaves a tiny hollow, that is a useless bud. 



Previous to the removal of the bud, the stock should 

 be prepared to receive it, as the bud must not be allowed 

 to get dry. If it is a Crab stock, first make a cross 

 cut about 12 inches from the ground, and then a down 

 cut about ij inch long, the two cuts resembling the 

 letter T. Then insert the flat end of the budding knife 

 under the edges below the cross cut, and lift up the 



