PROPAGATION BY BUDDING. 49 



nly placing the cion on a piece of root (as a stalk,) of 

 proper thickness, and having fibres and fibrils attached to 

 it. In the most unfavorable soils, some sort of fruit-trees 

 thrive better than others ; and it has been suggested, that 

 by using root-stocks of such nourishing trees, and grafting 

 other desirable kinds on them, canker may often be avoid- 

 ed, and the better kinds of fruit produced. 



Propagation by Budding. Most kinds of fruit-trees 

 may be propagated by budding ; and^there are some, such 

 as peaches and apricots, which can scarcely be multiplied 

 in any other manner. It consists in removing a bud with 

 a portion of the bark from one tree, and inserting it in a 

 slit of the bark of another tree. The season for perform- 

 ing this operation is in July or August, when the buds 

 destined for the following year are completely formed in 

 the axils of the leaves, and when the portion of bark parts 

 freely from the wood beneath. The buds to be preferred 

 are those on the middle of a young shoot. There are many 

 forms of budding, but that which is simplest, and is gene- 

 rally practiced in this country, called Shield-budding, need 

 alone be described. The operator should be provided with 

 a budding-knife, in which the cutting edge of the blade is 

 rounded off at the point, and which has a thin ivory or 

 bone handle, like a paper-folder, for raising the bark of the 

 stock. A horizontal or transverse incision is made in the 

 bark quite down to the wood, and from this incision a per- 

 pendicular slit is drawn downwards, to the extent of per- 

 haps an inch. The slit (Fig. 3) has now a resemblance to 

 the letter T, q ; a bud is then cut from the tree wished to 

 be propagated, having a portion of the wood attached to it, 

 so that the whole may be an inch and a half long, as at 5. The 

 bit of wood is then gently withdrawn, care being taken that the 



bud adhere wholly to the bark or shield, as it is called, as at r, 



3 



