426 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Sept. 



The English Agricultural College. — Dr. 

 Gregory, the President of the Illinois Agricultural 

 College, is in Europe examining the institutions 

 there for agricultural education. His first letter, 

 published in the Western Rural, is devoted mainly 

 to the only agricultural college in England, that 

 at Cirencester, which is a private institution. Af- 

 ter alluding to an almost hopeless debt for extrav- 

 agant buildings, which hangs like an incubus upon 

 the enterprise and interferes materially with its 

 success, by necessitating charges which virtually 

 excludes all but the sons of rich men, he remarks : 



But after careful inspection, the institution does 

 not seem t > me the equal, either in work or results 

 of the Michigan Agricultural College, and I believe 

 that in less than two years the Illinnis Industruil 

 University will be greatly its superior in most 

 points as it is already in many. Agricultural edu- 

 cation has its finest field and its best muteiial in 

 the great basin of the Mississippi, and it must win 

 its great victories there. Ciiencester afforded me 

 many capital hints, but little to copy. 



BUDDING YOUNG TKEES. 



"Will you or some of your correspondents please 

 inform me through your valuable paper the time 

 and mode of budding young trets, and oblige 



A Fakmek's JSon. 



Kingston, N. H., Apr. 30, 1869. 



Remarks. — We have delayed an answer to 

 the above inquiry for the purpose of bringing 

 the subject up more timely than it would have 

 been in April or May. From the first to the 

 twenty-fifth of August is the budding season 

 in New England. Mr. Cole, a former editor 

 of the Farmer, gives the following general 

 rule as to the most favorable time for this op- 

 eration : Apples, from August 15 to 25 ; 

 quince, same as apples ; cherries, Aug. 5 to 

 15 ; pears, Aug. 10 to 20 ; peaches, Septem- 

 ber 5 to 18 ; plums and apricots on plums, 

 August 1 to 10. But much depends on the 

 forwardness or backwardness of the season, 

 on the growth of the tree as affected by 

 •wet or dry weather, and on locality. Con- 

 sequently judgment must be exercised. 



Mr. Thomas says, the essential requisites to 

 success in budding are. First, a thrifty, rap- 

 idly growing stock, so that the bark will peel 

 very freely. Secondly, a proper time ; not so 

 early that there will be too much cambium or 

 muciLiginous cement between the bark and the 

 wood for the adhesion of the bud ; nor so late 

 that the bark will not peel, nor the subsequent 

 growth sufficiently cement the bud to the stock. 

 Thirdly, buds sufHciently mature. Fourthly, 

 a keen, fiat knife for shaving off the bud, that 

 it maj lie close in contact upon the wood of 

 the stock. Fifthly, the application of a liga- 



ture with moderate pressure, causing the bud 

 to fit the stock closely. 



The newly-set bud is united to the stock by 

 the thick sap, or cambium, or mucilage be- 

 tween the bark and i he old wood, but it should 

 not grow until the next year ; hence the im- 

 portance of this substance being in the right 

 state when the bud is inserted, and of its be- 

 ing put in at the right season. The stock 

 should be growing well when the operation is 

 performed, and it should continue to thrive 

 ten or fifteen days afterwards. When we hit 

 on the right time almost every bud will grow ; 

 but if too early, the buds may start the same 

 season, and then the winter will kill them, or, 

 in case of stone fruit, gum is liable to ooze 

 out and start off the bud ; and if done too 

 late, the bark will not peel well, and there 

 will not be sufficient growing weather to cause 

 a union of the bud and stalk. 



Now for the buds. These are obtained 



from shoots of the present year's growth. It 



is important that these buds, which may be 



called the seed or germ of the tree you wish 



to propagate, are well grown, or ripe. Cut 



thrifty, strong shoots, selecting those 



on which the terminal bud is well 



developed, — those from old trees of 



moderate growth are more firm than 



those of more rapid growth. As 



soon as the scion is cut trim off the 



leaves, leaving about one-third of 



an inch of the stem of the leaves on 



the scion, as is seen in the cut. 



Leaves exhale moisture very rapidly. 



It has been found that a sunflower 



plant only three feet high exhaled 



from its leaves in a dry day between 



one and two pints of water. Cut a 



a limb from a tree and throw it 



upon the ground with its leaves all 



^liudsf °" ^"^ '^^ ^^*^ quickly shrivel ; but 



cut off the leaves and it will remain 



plump and fresh much longer. After cutting 



off the leaves, however, the scion shuuli be 



wrapped in a damp cloth, or mat, or grass, or 



moss, or sawdust. And if not used at once, 



should be laid in a cool cellar or buried a foot 



deep in moist earth. 



Mr. Cole gives the following directions for 

 performing the operation of budding, in his 

 Fruit Book: "With a sbarp budding knife, 

 make a perpendicular slit, just through the 



