PROPAGATING APPLE-TREES. 45 



there is a good bud, from a twig a little smaller than the 

 stock. Then remove a piece of the same length from the 

 stock, and wrap the piece that bears a bud around the 

 stock, and secure it with a soft and elastic ligament. Young 

 stocks of nut-bearing trees, that have thick bark, are fre- 

 quently budded in this way with more satisfactory success 

 than by the T-style of budding. Cotton and linen ligaments 

 are objectionable for closing the lips of the bark, as there is 

 but little elasticity in such materials. The ligaments should 

 be somewhat elastic, so that the strands may yield a trifle, 

 as the stock enlarges by growth. 



Management of Buds. After the buds have been set 

 about six days, each one should be examined by some com- 

 petent and careful person who will exercise proper judg- 

 ment in removing the ligaments from the buds that have 

 adhered firmly, and in loosening the ligaments around oth- 

 ers, when the strands are so tight as to form creases in the 

 bark. When the lips of the T-cut have not united with the 

 cambium, so as to hold the bud, the ligament should remain 

 on longer. As soon as the bud has united firmly with the 

 stock, the ligament should be removed. Buds that are set 

 in the latter part of summer are not expected to send up a 

 stem until the next spring. Then, early in the growing sea- 

 son, the stock should be cut off about one-eighth of an inch 

 above the bud, not square across, but a little slanting, so 

 that the wound will heal soon. Grafting-wax should be ap- 

 plied to the wound as soon as the cut is made, that the 

 wood may not dry up, to the injury of the bud. If shoots 

 from buds push upward too rapidly for their strength, a 

 small stake should be set near the stock, to which the tender 

 stem should be tied with soft shreds of old cloth, to prevent 

 the wind from breaking the young shoots off ; or the shoot 

 may be secured like Fig. 32, represented on page 46. In 

 many instances, the stock is cut off so near the bud that, if 



