PROPAGATING APPLE-TREES. 39 



and bud. Budding can not be performed successfully when 

 the bark of the stock will not peel easily. Buds must be 

 set when there is a bountiful supply of cambium, or muci- 

 laginous material in a semi-fluid state between the bark 

 and the wood of the stock, to facilitate the vital adhesion 

 of the bud. By making a slit in the bark of the stock, 

 one can readily perceive whether the cambium has become 

 too hard to unite with the bud, or whether the supply is 

 still insufficient to effect a union. 2. Varieties of the same 

 species are always more successful than a bud taken from 

 a branch which is not closely allied to the stock. Apple- 

 buds should be inserted on apple-stocks, pear-buds on pear- 

 stocks, and peach-buds on young peach-trees. 3. The bud 

 should always be taken from a shoot of the present or the 

 preceding year's growth, and inserted in a stock not over 

 two years old. Buds are seldom inserted in stocks over 

 one year old. If buds are set in the latter part of summer, 

 a stock of the present season's growth is chosen. 4. It is 

 important to take such buds as have come to full maturity, 

 as a half -mature bud will often fail to produce a shoot, 

 even were it to live. We have sometimes inserted imma- 

 ture buds, which have adhered to the stock, but which 

 pushed out no stem for two years after. 5. The inner 

 surface of the bud must be fitted so neatly to the corre- 

 sponding surface of the stock, that a union can not fail, 

 provided the operation is performed at a proper period in 

 the growing season. 6. Mechanical skill and dispatch are 

 essential to satisfactory success. The incision should be 

 made neatly; the bark lifted a trifle, without disturbing 

 the cambium beneath it ; and the bud should be cut from 

 the twig, inserted, and the ligature applied in a few sec- 

 onds. 



The best Time to Inoculate. The best period of the year 

 to bud must always be determined by the growing stocks. 



