No. 7. 



Grafting and Inoculating. 



215 



The following is the account of Mr. Rob- 

 inson, of Portsmouth, (N. H.) of his method 

 of performing the operation. 



•' Persons intending to graft or inoculate to 

 good advantage, should in August procure 

 their scions containing their buds and gratis. 

 It is well to have for their better preservation, 

 a portion of the larger limbs connected witli 

 them. If taken ofT immediately, they must 

 be thrown, when bundled up and labelled, 

 under the north side of your thick yard or 

 garden fence, where they will be secure, if 

 exposed to the influence of the atmosphere; 

 having an eye in case of too warm and dry 

 weather, they are not too much e.vposed. If 

 80, just enter their but ends under the surface 

 of the earth. This method is better than 

 covering them up bodily, or keeping them in 

 a cellar. 



" Experience has taught me that there is a 

 great advantage in procuring cuttings in this 

 way, over the practice of neglecting till too 

 late. I shall now attempt to show the best 

 method to manage a nursery, as to securing 

 good fruit in the most economical and speedy 

 manner. To do this, grafting and inoculating 

 is my text. The nursery is supposed to have 

 been judiciously managed, and of one year's 

 growth from the seed. Of course the plants 

 are from one to two feet high, and as large as 

 a Dutch quill ; some much larger. All of this 

 size never will be more fit to bud. There 

 should be no delay. These little young trees 

 have their peculiarly smooth and pliable bark ; 

 they are very thrifty, and consequently, may 

 be budded somewhat later than others of a 

 different character. A nursery in this stage 

 may be most advantageously budded. If the 

 operation be skilful, they will take ; and ifoth- 

 erwise, they receive no perceptible injury. 

 The advantages of early budding are numer- 

 ous and great. First, the job contemplated is 

 over: you cannot have any uneasiness about 

 it, from any delays. Your trees are in a much 

 better state for coming to perfection ; they 

 will thrive much better notwithstandinsr they 

 are cut off from two to four inches from the 

 ground during the season ; they will far out- 

 grow the others in size and height, they also 

 grow more erect and free from craggy twigs, 

 a great saving in pruning. The improvement 

 in their appearance is admirable. Picture to 

 yourself trees from the nurseries such ns I 

 have received, and at full prices, with old 

 stocks, half closed over, and budded two to 

 three feet from the ground. The contrast is 

 great, 



" The disadvantage from suffering nurseries 

 to remain till a number of years old, before 

 burlJed, is obvious. The wound necessary 

 for the bud, in thick and old birk, and espe- 

 cially if the bud d)fs take, is of some injury. 

 The cutting off" the large old stock, leaving 



the bud alone while the stock is closed over — 

 meantime the quantity of roots without a top 

 in proportion — are great checks, and of much 

 injury to the growth of tiie plant ; and most 

 ultimately affect the growtli and health of tlie 

 tree. 



" I make these remarks from the authority 

 of my own experience in inoculating a nur- 

 sery in iis different stages as above described. 



"I shall now attempt to describe my process 

 in budding. I was instructed to strike a hor- 

 izontal cut through the bark, with a sharp 

 knife, at a suitable place, on the north side 

 of the stock ; striking from this a perpendic- 

 ular cut about an inch long, opening the bark 

 with a knife or some instrument for the pur- 

 pose ; then taking a bud from the scion, having 

 a care to takeoff"a small portion of wood willi 

 the bud — then carefully taking away the 

 wood, leaving the stem or eye of tlie bud 

 whole and smooth — then thrusting in the bud 

 with a due proportion of bark, three-fourths 

 of an inch long, and half as wide. The bark 

 of the but to be thrust in free from the hark 

 of the stock above — then closing over the bark 

 of the bud with that of the stock, binding it 

 carefully, with elm or bass rind or with coarse 

 woollen yarn. This process has not yet 

 proved perfect; it has with me often failed. 

 I have sought for a more perfect and sure pro- 

 cess. Accordingly I have varied, as my judg- 

 ment has led me, for a better method. I have 

 found that instead of striking a horizontal, it 

 is best to cut quite a sloping stroke, splitting 

 down from this slope perpendicularly so low 

 as to admit the bud, taking off" in an oval 

 shape, in the same careful manner as above 

 described ; having a care to preserve a little 

 wood at the eye of the bud as I had in taking 

 it away in the former process. The bud then 

 is to be thrust under the raised bark, down so 

 low as to admit the bark of the stock to come 

 in its former place, above the bud, fir iialf an 

 inch, where it immeii lately receives its usual 

 nourishment; being bound up with coarse 

 woollen yarn, which I prefer to anything else. 

 In winding on the yarn, I am careful to draw 

 it gently over the wound, omitting to cover 

 the bud till the last, over which I then 

 draw the yarn very softly. In this process, 

 every part works so natural, and so smooth, 

 that if unbound the next day it would be dif- 

 ficult to distinguish the bud from a natural 

 one ; and indeed, the bud as well as the bark 

 of the stock seems not in the least affected. 

 In this mode of inoculating, there is no such 

 thing as not taking. On the other hand, the 

 bark being cut square across, and the bud not 

 being sufficiently thrust down, the bark ot' the 

 stock coming to bear on the outer bark of the 

 bud, at the top of the slit, there is nothing to 

 support it; but it dries und shrinks from its 

 primitive place, admits air, and if tho woodia 



