1 



BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. 273 



slipped on the stock, the strips of bark are raised over it, and 

 fastened at the top by a ligature. Sometimes the end of the stock 

 is cut obliquely, and the straps are brought up as at a, in which case 

 the top of the stock is not cut into shreds, and turned down over the 

 tube of bark, as in flute-budding in the South of France. A curious 

 experiment by this mode of budding, consists in placing rings of the 

 bark of different allied species, one above another, without allowing 

 any of the buds to develop themselves. On cutting down the stem of 

 a tree so treated, some years afterwards, it will be found that under 

 each kind of bark is a portion of its proper wood, proving that the 

 wood is deposited by the inner bark from the returning sap, and that 

 the bark has the power of so modifying this sap, as to produce the 

 particular kind of wood of the species to which it belongs, without the 

 aid of any leaves of that species. . 



Annular budding (fig. 250) is performed either at the principal 

 movement of the sap in spring, or at the end of its principal movement 

 in August. In. either case the top of the stock is kept 

 on ; and if the ring of bark containing a bud or buds taken Fig. 250. 

 from the scion is larger than the space prepared for it on 

 the stock, a piece must be taken from it longitudinally, so 

 as to make it fit exactly. In Belgium this mode is 

 considered particularly suitable for hard-wooded trees, 

 which are difficult to increase by any other mode. 



The after-care of grafts by budding consists, in all cases, 

 in removing the bandages or plasters as soon as it is ascer- 

 tained that the buds or scions have adhered to the stock. 

 This may generally be known in two or three weeks, by the ^ nnu i ar j^. 

 healthy appearance of the bark and its bud or buds, and by ding. 

 the dropping off of the petiole, which in the case of 

 the death of the bud withers and adheres. It is also of the utmost im- 

 portance to attach supports or stakes firmly to the stock, and to tie the 

 grafts or buds as they grow tightly to them, otherwise they will often 

 be broken off by wind. The next operation is to head-down the stock 

 to within an inch or two of the bud, the stump being left for a week 

 or two as a prop, to which the shoot produced by the bud of the scion 

 may be tied, till it acquires vigour enough to support itself. The 

 stump is then cut off in a sloping direction, close above the bud. In 

 general, any buds which develop themselves on this stump should be 

 rubbed off ; but in the case of very weak scions, one or more buds 

 may be left on the stump to draw up the sap till the graft has taken. 

 When budding is performed in spring, the stock should have been 

 headed-down before the ascent of the sap ; but in autumn-budding, as 

 no shoot is produced till the spring following, heading-down is deferred 

 till that season, and takes place just before the sap is in motion. Where 

 a number of grafts by buds are introduced on one stem or on one 

 branch, heading-down can, of course, only take place above the upper- 

 most bud ; and in terminal flute-budding, it is performed as a neces- 

 sary part of the operation. Much of the success of budding depends 

 on the stock and bud growing vigorously, to supply the juices or cam- 



