526 HOW TO :srAKp] the farm pay. 



must be taken that the earth is pressed compactly about the 

 8tem. All the Cultivation" necessary in the nursery is that 

 every Aveed shall be kept out and the ground between the rows 

 be kept mellow by the cultivator. This should be furnished with 

 .1 short whiffletree and long traces, so that cultivation may go 

 close to the rows without injuring the stems. The most vigor- 

 ous of these stocks will be ready for Budding the same season, 

 twenty-one mouths after planting the seed or putting down the 

 layer. 



Budding, is inserting the bud of one tree under the bark 

 of another. It is done most successfully from July to Septem- 

 ber, when the trees are in their most vigorous growth. The 

 buds should be fully developed and the bud on the end of the 

 shoot, called the terminal bud, perfected. In budding the peach 

 the terminal bud is the best. The buds are cut smoothly off, a 

 very little of the wood being taken with them. {See Figs. 113 

 arid 116.) A cut is then made in the stock in the shape of a T, 

 the bark lifted, and the bud slipped under it. {See Figs. 114, 115, 

 and 116.) The tree should then be tied, leaving only the bud 

 exposed. Bass-wood bark makes the best bandage, but husks, or 

 even clotb, will answer the purpose. If in two weeks the bud 

 begins to swell, it has taken, and the bandage may be removed ; 

 if it has not taken, the operation may be tried again the same 

 ^«.•asoD, or the stock left over to be grafted in the spring. It is 

 u.sually best to bud near the ground. When a number of buds 

 are cut at once, they should be stripped of their leaves and 

 packed in damp cloths, moss, matting, or sawdust, and in a cool 

 cellar, several days. If ordered from a distance, they should be 

 used as soon as received. All suckers, or robbers, as they are 

 termed, being shoots that appear on the stem below the bud, 

 should be removed. The following spring after budding the 

 stock may be cut back, as shown in Fig. 117. 



