BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. 267 



them ; then procure the cutting from which the shields or tubes of bark 

 are to be taken. If the budding is to be performed in spring, the cuttings 

 from which the buds are to be taken should be cut from the tree the 

 preceding autumn, and kept through the winter by burying their lower 

 ends in the ground, in a cool, shady situation, as in the case of grafting 

 by detached scions. When these cuttings are to be used, their lower 

 ends should be placed in water, to keep them fresh, while the operation 

 of cutting shields or rings from them is going on. If, on the other 

 hand, the budding is to be performed in summer, which is almost 

 always the case in Britain, then the cutting from which the buds are 

 to be taken is not cut off the parent tree till just before the operation 

 is to be performed. The cutting should be a shoot of the current 

 year's wood, which has done growing, or nearly so, and its leaves 

 should be cut off, to prevent the waste of sap by evaporation, as soon 

 as it is taken from the tree ; the end of the cutting should then be put 

 in water to keep it fresh, and the buds taken off as wanted. When the 

 leaves are cut off care should be taken to leave part of the petiole of 

 each, to handle the shield or ring by when putting it on the stock. A 

 slit is next made in the stock, or a ring of bark taken off; and the 

 shield or ring from the cutting, containing a bud or buds which are 

 ripe or nearly so, is introduced in the manner which will be described 

 in treating of the different modes of performing the operation. Tying 

 the bud on the stock generally completes the operation, though some- 

 times grafting wax is employed to cover the junction of the shield 

 or ring. 



Prepared wax for budding may be composed of turpentine, beeswax, 

 resin, and a little tallow melted together. It may be put on in the 

 same manner as grafting clay, but should not be more than a quarter 

 of an inch in thickness ; or it may be very thinly spread upon cotton 

 cloth, and used in shreds, like sticking-plaster. In this last state it 

 serves both as a ligature for retaining the shield of the scion in its 

 place, and as a covering for excluding the air. In very delicate bud- 

 ding and grafting, fine moss or cotton wool are frequently used as sub- 

 stitutes for grafting clay or grafting wax, the moss or cotton being tied 

 firmly on with coarse thread or with fine threads of bast matting. 



Plastic wax, or grafting wax, which the heat of the hand, or breathing 

 on, will render sufficiently soft for use, is thus prepared : Take com- 

 mon sealing-wax, of any colour except green, one part ; mutton fat, 

 one part ; white wax, one part ; and honey, one-eighth of a part. The 

 white wax and the fat are to be first melted, and then the sealing-wax 

 is to be added gradually in small pieces, the mixture being kept con- 

 stantly stirred ; and lastly, the honey must be put in just before taking 

 it off the fire. It should be poured hot into paper or tin moulds, and 

 kept slightly agitated till it begins to congeal. 



Shield-budding in the end of summer is almost the only mode in use 

 in British nurseries, where it is generally performed in July or August. 

 A cross cut and slit are made in the stock, in the form of the letter T, 

 and if possible through a bud (fig. 235, a). From a shoot of the 

 present year deprived of its leaves, a slice of bark and wood, containing 



