74 THE DIFFERENT BUDDING OPERATIONS 



as too much nitrogen will force too heavy a growth, and 

 the wood will not mature well in the fall. A succulent 

 over-sized tree is never as good for orchard planting as a 

 stocky medium-sized one. 



Sprouting. The heading back of the seedlings to 

 force the bud will also start numerous sprouts on the stock. 

 These are allowed to develop with the bud until mid-sum- 

 mer when the trees are gone over and the sprouts removed. 

 This process calls for considerable experience and the novice 

 is apt to pull off the wrong sprout. In most cases, the dif- 

 ferences in the foliage of the good bud and of the sprouts, 

 will be marked enough so that it will be easy to distinguish 

 them. In some cases, where almonds are budded on 

 bitter almond stock or peaches on peach stock, the similar- 

 ity is so great that the only sure way is to examine the place 

 where the bud was inserted. The sprouter has to crawl 

 along the rows on his hands and knees, separate the unde- 

 sirable sprouts and strip them off by hand. Sometimes 

 the process has to be repeated, but usually once is enough. 



Selecting Buds. Good buds are vital to the success 

 of the nursery. They are not difficult to secure but should 

 be selected with considerable care. The work of collect- 

 ing buds should be left to one man who is well versed in 

 the knowledge of buds from the various kinds of fruit. 

 He should be able to distinguish a leaf bud from a fruit 

 bud. He ought to know on what wood the fruit or flower 

 buds are born, whether they come singly, in pairs or in 

 threes; whether they developed on the current year's 

 wood or on one or two years' old growth. 



The almond, the peach, the apricot and all the rest of 



