BUDDIiNG OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BIDS. 



303 



a portion of the back of the common grafting-knife, viz. from + to + in 

 fig. 195, p. 286, may be sharpened by the cutler, so as to be used as a blade 

 for making the downward slit, while the cross slit can be made with the 

 common edge. Scions for budding may be sent a considerable distance by 

 letter, if the leaves are cut off and the scion closely wrapped up in oiled 

 paper, or coated over with mastic. Scions may also be immersed in honey, 

 in which they will keep for two or three weeks. When bulk is not an 

 objection,, they may be packed up in long grass, or in moist moss, or in 

 several folds of moistened brown paper, and covered with drawn wheat- 

 straw, to serve as a non-conductor of heat and moisture. 



677. Prepared wax for budding may be composed of turpentine, bees' wax, 

 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 ineh 

 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 escutcheon or scion in its place, and as a covering for 

 excluding the air. In very delicate budding and grafting, fine moss or cotton 

 wool are frequently used as substitutes for grafting-clay or grafting- wax, 

 the moss or cotton being tied firmly on with coarse thread or fine strands of 

 bast -matting. 



678. Plastic wax, or grafting- wax, which the heat of the hand, or breath- 

 ing on, will render sufficiently soft for use, is thus prepared : Take common 

 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 gra- 

 dually in small pieces, the mixture being kept constantly 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. 



679. 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. 237, a). From a shoot of the present year 



Fig. 237. The different steps in the process of shield-budding. 



deprived of its leaves, a slice of bark and wood, containing a bud, &, is then 

 cut out, and the wood is removed from the slice by the point of the knife. 

 This is done by holding the shield by the remains of the leaf with one 



