26 THE BOOK OF ROSES. 



cut of a shield or scutcheon-like shape, and 

 raised carefully from the branch with the bud- 

 ding knife, so as to adhere without fissure or 

 blemish to the bud, which otherwise would not 

 succeed. 



Upon the stock to be grafted, a longitudinal 

 slit must next be made, with the point of the 

 knife, the length of the scutcheon ; with a 

 second transversal slit, forming the shape of 

 the letter T. The bark should then be raised 

 with the ivory blade of the budding knife, to 

 avoid wounding or tearing it, and the escut- 

 cheon introduced carefully underneath. The 

 edges of the loosened bark of the stock must 

 next be shaped to those of the scutcheon, and 

 made to fit with great exactness : the whole 

 should be bound round with coarse worsted, 

 but not too tight in the ligature. 



A scallop-bud is effected in the same way, 

 except that a portion of the wood is allowed to 

 adhere to the bud, while a similar portion is 

 removed from the stock. A scutcheon graft 

 may be placed either on a stem or branch. 

 The stem answers best with young stocks, 

 the branch with old. The scutcheon usually 

 takes, on any part of the tree ; but it succeeds 

 best if placed on the part of the branch near- 

 est to the stem, just above the armpit of a 

 branch. If the graft is made for a shooting- 

 bud, all extraneous shoots and buds should be 



