CHAPTER XVII 

 METHODS OF BUDDING 



338. Bud grafting is so special a form of graftage that 

 it is generally called budding. It is a form in which a 

 single bud with little or no wood is applied to the cam- 

 bium of the stock (always growing in normal position), 

 usually beneath the bark. Many species of plants are 

 propagated by either budding or grafting; others do 

 better by one and not the other method, but there is no 

 general rule by which decision can be made, though 

 thin-barked plants with copious sap generally succeed 

 best when grafted or when buds are used at the time of 

 smallest sap flow. Thus "throwing out," "strangula- 

 tion" or "drowning" of the bud may be obviated. 



Budding is widely popular for propagating fruit trees, 

 especially the stone fruits, which are almost always 

 budded rather than grafted. Roses, lilacs and many 

 ornamental trees are similarly treated. In nurseries it 

 is perhaps more extensively employed than is grafting. 

 The usual season for budding of peach and plum in the 

 North is from midsummer to early fall ; in the South a 

 month or six weeks earlier. Thus southern nurserymen 

 have an advantage over northern ones, because they save 

 practically a year's time, and the trees, if well grown, are 

 just as good as northern grown trees. June budded 

 trees may be fall planted in the South the same season 

 as budded ; later ones not till the following fall, because 

 the buds remain dormant till spring. 



339. Dormant budding in early spring is done to a 

 limited extent in a few southern states. In the North, 

 cherries and apples are usually budded in June and July, 

 though sometimes not till August. With fully dormant 

 buds saved as for grafting cions (307), budding may be 



