NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



251 



Mil a 



BUDDING. 



1 Stick ofhiids. 



2. . . .Stock prepared for the bud. 

 3. . . .Shield or bud with the wood in. 

 4.... Bud with the wood taken out. 

 5. . . .Stock with the bud inserted. 

 6. ...Stock with the bud tied in. 

 7 Growing bud tied to the stock. 



Baddinor, thoutrh a simple process, that may be 

 readily learned and practised with ease and expedi- 

 tion, is wonderful in its operation. There are many 

 kinds of fruit that can be propagated rapidly only 

 by this piocess, and by grafting, which is similar. 

 The apple and pear are propagated very slowly and 

 with diiTiculty by layers, cuttings, and inarching, 

 and almost every variety will fail to produce its like 

 by seed. 



But budding affords so easy and rapid a multipli- 

 cation of trees, that from one tree a thousand may 

 be produced in one year, and each one afford nu- 

 merous buds for a further multiplication. So that 

 a single tree, of excellent variety, may be scattered 

 all over the country, in a few years, or over th( 

 world, so far as civilization, and, consequently, use 

 ful arts, adapted to an improved condition of socie- 

 ty, have extended. 



Any one who would practise budding, and is not 

 acquainted with the operation, should learn from a 

 practitioner, if convenient; but he ma}' learn the 

 art by reading. In this way we learned it, and our 

 first attempts were successful. 



The buds should be cut from shoots of the pre- 

 sent year's growth, that are becoming ripe or firm, 

 as those very tender or succulent are too soft, and 

 more liable to fail. There is often a great error in 

 not preparing the stick of buds immediately after 

 cut, for the moisture is consUintly passing into the 

 leaf; and sometimes on a hot dry day, the buds will 

 be spoiled in two hours, if the leaves remain on, 

 the bud becoming dry and dead. 



In preparing the stock, it is better to make the 

 cross cut in a circular form, as in Fig. 3, that the 

 band may cross it, rather than press into the cut. 



Tlie hark on each side of the perpendicular cut, at 

 the top, should be raised with the handle of the 

 budding-knife, by lifting, not by forcing it down 

 between the bark and wood, which may disturb the 

 cambrium, or new layer of soft matter, called sliver, 

 in some sections. 



Some years past, it was a general practice to 

 take out the small slip of wood cut out with the 

 bud, which is represented by the inner circle, Fig. 



3. Of lute years, most persons, and nearly all who 

 have recently commenced the business, leave the 

 wood in. Old practitioners say, in regard to this 

 new mode, that it is better to take out the wood in 

 buds from rather large, firm scions; but when the 

 scions are small and succulent, it is better to leave 

 the wood in. Beginners will generally succeed 

 Setter by leaving the wood in, as they are liable to 

 itijure the bud or bark around it, in removing the 

 wood. Many budders always leave the wood in, 

 and succeed well, and this mode is the most conve- 

 nient; and this will give a preference for the Amer- 

 ican mode over the slower English process. In 

 taking out the wood, if the root of the bud come 

 out with it, which may be known by a minute hole 

 in the bud, at the point marked in the centre of Fig. 



4, that bud must be rejected. This may be pre- 

 vented by cleaving off the wood with the point of 

 ihe knife, to the root of the bud, and then cut the 

 wood off there, smooth with the bark, with a thin, 

 pointed knife. 



Snme budders use small thin gouges, with a very 

 keen (■dq;e, to take out the wood. They are made 

 on a circle generally, corresponding with that of 

 the scion. The better way is to have a pair, one 

 for large scions, the other for small. They are 

 hung by a string, at a convenient height fur the 

 hand to take hold of them instantly, and their shape 

 is such, being fiat at the hand, and a little curved, 

 that the operator may know when lie lias tlicni in 

 the right position for use, without looking at them. 



