BUDDING. 99 



may use a quart of warm water or milk to make the cakes 

 by this receipt. 



BUDDING. The practice of inserting buds into trees 

 is a more common way of grafting than any other method 

 adopted in the United States. Its chief advantages are the 

 rapidity with which it can be performed, the length of time 

 in which it can safely be undertaken, and the harmlessness of 

 the trial, which, if the budding fails, can be repeated on the 

 same stock without any detriment. 



Budding is particularly preferred for stone fruit, such 

 as Peaches and Apricots, which are more easily budded 

 than grafted. The operation is performed from the first of 

 July to the middle of September, when the bark of the stock 

 slips up or separates readily from the wood, and the buds 

 of the current year's growth are' a little plump, and the 

 young wood is growing healthily. A budding-knife is used. 

 This knife is about four and a half inches long, has a round 

 blade, and an ivory handle finished at the end with a thin, 

 rounded edge, called the haft. This knife must be kept 

 very sharp. A substitute for the knife is sometimes found 

 by cutting a piece of hard wood into a thin taper form. 



Previous to budding, what is technically called a stick of 

 buds is selected, that is, taking a cutting from a healthy tree, 

 clipping off imperfect buds at the lower end, and such as 

 may be young and immature at the upper end, leaving 

 firm, healthy single buds, double buds being fruit-buds. 

 Trim off the leaves, but not too closely, for the footstalks 

 are convenient in handling the buds. Have pieces of soft 

 matting or yarn ready to tie round the buds. Bass matting, 

 soaked in water till flexible, is often used. 



Shield or T budding is the method generally practised. 

 This consists in making a cut through the bark with your 

 budding-knife an inch or an inch and a half long, and at 



