CULTIVATION OF BUBS. 59 



with, or slightly below the lower end of the bud, draws 

 it, with a rapid motion towards him, in an upward di- 

 rection, and at an angle of about forty-five or fifty de- 

 grees, leaving from a quarter to a half inch of the stump 

 above the bud. This is a very speedy work, a single 

 good hand being able to dispatch five thousand in a day. 

 As soon as it is clearly ascertained what buds have not 

 taken, the stumps should be immediately taken up with 

 the spade. If this is not done, they will send up suckers 

 which will grow rapidly, take the room and aliment that 

 should be reserved solely for the young buds that have 

 taken, and interfere with the cultivation. Besides this, 

 if great care be not exercised in taking up the trees in 

 the fall or spring succeeding, they will be mixed in with 

 the stock of budded ones, and thus destroy its purity, and 

 injure both its sale, and the reputation of the vender. . 



RUBBING OFF BUDS. 



In two or three weeks after the topping takes place, and 

 even sooner, if the growth has been rapid, all the natural 

 buds below the cion must be rubbed off. This is readily 

 done with the hand, if performed in proper season. The 

 process is repeated a week or two later, as the supera- 

 bundant sap is continually forcing out new ones. The 

 object of rubbing is to destroy the natural, and stimulate 

 the artificial, buds. At first the union is so slight and 

 the flow of sap so abundant, that there is a strong and 

 constant effort of nature to furnish new stems to sup- 

 ply the loss of the one cut away ; but as the leaves of 

 the inserted bud begin to develop themselves, and the 

 bud itself to assume the form of the exscinded stem, this 

 effort is directed into the new channel, and the tendency to 

 throw off new shoots is greatly weakened. Two or three 

 rubbings will generally be sufficient, but, from the tardy 

 growth of the artificial bud, or the great strength of the 



