156 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



out the bud. Insert the budding knife about an inch above the 

 eye, and make a circular slicing cut to remove the bud from the 

 stem. The piece thus removed should be about an inch long. 

 Next prise up with the point of the knife or thumbnail the bit of 

 wood in the slice of shoot and peel it out of the shell of bark, care 

 being taken not to pull the eye of the bud away. If this by any 

 mischance is done the bud is spoiled, and may as well be thrown 

 away. 



The bud will now be ready for insertion in the stock. But be- 

 fore this is done it is necessary to make an incision in the bark 

 of the briar or manetti to be operated on. This is made as near 

 to the base of the plant as possible, especially in the case of the 

 manetti stock. Make an incision in the bark of the stock in the 

 shape of a letter T, as shown in the diagram. The cut need not be 

 deep, only sufficiently so to allow the bark to be raised easily. 

 This should be done with the flat handle of the budding knife, and 

 when a sufficiently large opening has been made the bud should 

 be carefully inserted. It should be pushed in at the transverse 

 cut the top of the letter T as far down to the end of the longi- 

 tudinal cut as it will go. The bud should be allowed to lie quite 

 flat in the slit made for it. Next tie the bud round firmly with 

 the bast or wool, leaving the bud exposed, and the operation is 

 complete. If standards are wanted, the stocks should be cut 

 from briars about a yard or four feet long, and the bud 

 inserted in a shoot at the top of the briar stock as shown in the 

 illustration. 



It will be possible to ascertain whether union has been achieved 

 in about three weeks, for then, if such be the case, the joint will 

 begin to swell. The tying material should then be somewhat 

 loosened, to allow for natural swelling as the stock grows. Mean- 

 while the upper shoots of the stock must not be severed. They 

 should be left intact until the spring, when, if all has gone well, 

 the bud will be found to be making growth. The top of the stock 

 can then be severed about two inches above the point of union, and 

 at the same time it will be found advisable to remove from the 

 stock all suckers or underground growths. The bud must be 



