162 POPULAR FRUIT GROWING. 



be loosened. When the bud is well united, the band should be 

 cut off altogether. The buds will generally unite in about two 

 weeks, but sometimes they will require a longer time, and it 

 is often desirable to leave the ties on for some little time after 

 this period. It is a bad practice to neglect the bands and al- 

 low them to severely cut into the stock. 



The inserted buds should not start at all until the follow- 

 ing spring. If they start into growth the season they are in- 

 serted, they are almost certain to be killed the following win- 

 ter. If the bark of the inserted bud shriv-els, or if it remains 

 fresh and the bud falls off, the work is entirely lost, though 

 the stocks that have missed one year may be budded the next, 

 and even while loosening the bands it may not be too late to 

 again bud those that have failed. To make the work more cer- 

 tain, two buds are often inserted in each stock, although only 

 one is allowed to grow. 



In the spring, the inserted bud will resemble fig. 80. Just 

 as the top buds commence to swell, the budded stocks should 

 be cut off at least one inch above the inserted bud, and some- 

 times seven or eight inches of the old stock is left above the 

 bud to serve as a stake to support the shoot starting from the 

 bud (fig. 80). All the shoots that come from the stock should 

 be rubbed off so that all its strength will go into the inserted 

 bud. 



Late in the season the stock should be cut down to just 

 above the bud, see the dotted line at c in figure 80. The grow- 

 ing shoot should be trained to a single stem if its stock is a 

 low one, so as to make a straight tree. If the root is strong, 

 the bud will make a growth of two to four feet the first year. 

 Some kinds of trees readily take on an upright form, while 

 others naturally grow very crooked and need special care to 

 induce them to grow straight. 



On the approach of winter it is a good plan to draw the 

 earth up against the buds as a protection, but this cannot be 

 done when the buds are more than two or three inches from 

 the ground. If the buds are too high up to allow this earthing 

 up from the ground, especially in the case of somewhat tender 

 kinds, some growers put a very thin covering of grafting wax 



