72 GENERAL PEINCIPLES. 



the stocks, by removing any brandies that may be in the 

 way of inserting the bud ; and a hudding hiife to take 

 off the buds and make the incisions in the stock. The 

 latter should have a very thin, smooth, and keen edge. 



Strings for tying in the huds are either taken from bass 

 mats, or they are prepared from the bark of the bass- 

 wood. We always prepare our own ; we send to the woods 

 and strip the bark off the trees in Jnne ; we then put it 

 in water from two to three weeks, according to the age 

 of the bark, until its tissue is decomposed, and the fibrous, 

 paper-like inner bark is easily separated from the outer, 

 when it is torn into strips, dried, and put away for use. 

 Before using, it should always be moistened to make it 

 tough and pliable. 



Cutting and Preparing the Buds. — ^ Young shoots in 

 the condition described, are cut below the lowest plump 

 bud ; an inch or two of the base of every shoot, where the 

 buds are very close together, and quite small, should be 

 left. The leaves are then stripped off, leaving half of 

 each leaf stalk to handle the bud by, as in fig. 63. 



Preserving tlie Buds. — When a considerable quantity 

 is cut at once, they should be wrapped in a damp cloth 

 as soon as cut and stripped of the leaves, and they may 

 be preserved in good order for ten days, by keeping them 

 in a cool cellar among damp saw-dust, or closely envelop 

 ed in damp cloths, matting, or moss. We often send buds 

 a week's journey, packed in moss slightly moistened ; the 

 leaves being off, the evaporation is trifling, none in fact 

 when packed up, consequently very little moistm'e is 

 needed. 



Having the stocks, buds, and implements in the condi- 

 tion described, the operation is performed in this way : 



The shoot to bud from is taken in one hand, and the 

 budding knife in the other, the lower part of the edge 

 of the knife is placed on the shoot half an inch above the 



