00 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1900. 



the stock. This form of grafting is the most ancient of all the 

 methods of grafting, and by it as seen in the woods and hedges, 

 Nature has given the hint to man, to do what she had done, 

 and so well has he followed her guidance, that now he has 

 numerous ways of reaching the same end. 



Budding is a form of grafting, so that while budding is graft- 

 ing, all grafting is not budding. Under some conditions bud- 

 ding has some advantages over the other forms of grafting. 



© o or? 



Budding is usually done with a single bud, of which this is an 

 example. In budding we do not use a wax, but tie with thread 

 or matting fibre. Budding is usually done in the latter part of 

 July, August and September on account of the buds being in 

 the best condition, although most trees used for stock are in the 

 best condition in the spring. In this respect differing from 

 scion grafting where the stock and scion are in the best condi- 

 tion at the same time in the spring. If the buds were in the 

 best condition in the spring, the joint conditions would be much 

 better than they are. Why should Nature arrange this so? 

 Does the Old Dame frown upon man's attempt to improve her 

 handiwork? Is this a reason why our budded peach stock is 

 such a failure? I think this fact and the budding of so much 

 stock with buds from trees infected with the yellows, may ex- 

 plain the peach tree situation today, and only by the utmost 

 care in the selection of bud and stock in the future can we hope 

 for better results. 



To bud. An eye or bud accompanied by a certain portion of 

 bark, detached from a branch, is the scion in this method of 

 grafting. The strip of bark attached to the eye should compre- 

 hend the entire thickness of the bark layers, not the smallest 

 part of the inner bark must be missing. The portion of bark 

 with bud is much like a shield, hence this form is often called 

 shield budding, although the shape of the strip of bark which is 

 attached to the bud graft is variable; it may be oval, square, 

 triangular, obtuse, &c, but in any form it is called a shield 

 bud. The buds are taken from shoots of the current year if 

 the operation is performed in summer, and from shoots of the 

 previous year, if the budding is done in the spring. Shoots of 



