8 4 



Commercial Gardening 



The bud or graft is really a kind of parasite. The plant that springs 

 from it has no roots of its own. It is dependent upon the roots of the 

 stock for the crude sap, which is pumped up into its stems and leaves from 

 the soil. This crude sap, however, is elaborated in the leaves of the scion, 

 and not in those of the stock; hence the changes are such that the leaves, 

 flowers, and fruits exhibit the features and usually possess the nature of the 

 scion and not of the stock, Laburnum adami being a notable exception. 



There are several ways in which buds may be inserted, but the best 

 and commonest method is that known as shield budding or T budding 

 (fig. 74). The dormant buds are taken from a ripened shoot of the current 

 year's growth, each bud having a small piece of leaf stalk attached to serve 

 as a handle. The stocks in which the buds are to be inserted in July and 

 A August should have been planted the previous 



October or November to get them well estab- 

 lished by then. Buds are either inserted as low 

 down the stem and as near the root as possible, 

 or they may be inserted on the topmost shoots 

 of a stock 3 to 10 ft. high. In either case a 

 transverse slit is made with a sharp budding 

 knife, and an upper cut about 1 in. long is made 

 to meet it, the two cuts forming the letter T. 

 The flat bone handle of the knife is gently pushed 

 in the upper slit to open the bark, and render it 

 easy to insert the bud, which has been severed 

 in advance and placed between the lips while 

 the slits were being made. In taking a bud the 

 chief point is to select one that is dormant, and 



neither too young near the top of the shoot, nor too old or sprouting from 

 near the base. If a flat piece of wood is taken off with the shield of bark 

 it should be removed, care, however, being taken not to tear out the body 

 of the bud with it. Some Continental and American budders do not trouble 

 to detach the piece of wood, but in British gardens it is customary to do 

 so. The bud being inserted, the bark is then tied round it with raffia or 

 worsted thread, carefully but firmly, to exclude the air. In two or three 

 weeks the bud will have united with the stock, and it will be necessary 

 to cut the tying material. An expert budder will bud from 500 to 700 

 stocks per day, or more, with the assistance of an intelligent lad to clean 

 the stocks and tie the buds after insertion. 



Grafting". Unlike budding, where a single bud is used, grafting con- 

 sists in affixing a shoot of one plant with two or more buds on to the stem 

 of another in such a way that the cambium layer of one must come face 

 to face with that of the other. The shoot is called the "scion", and the 

 plant on which it is placed is called the " stock " the latter being already 

 well rooted and established for twelve or eighteen months in advance to 

 ensure complete success. As in budding, so with grafting the stock and 

 scion must be closely related, and belong at least to the same natural 



Fig. 74. Showing Stock A, with 

 T-cut at a for reception of Bud B, 

 side view of which is given at e, and 

 inner face view at d 



