38 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



an important lesson in the cultivation of flowers. A plant will 

 not exhaust itself as much in making a dozen flowers as in 

 maturing one seed-pod. After flowering, nip off" the pod. 



But to return to the bud. I wish to give you another exam- 

 ple of the workings of nature in the propagation of varieties of 

 the same species. I told you that the bud contained all the ele- 

 ments of the perfect tree within itself ; and to show the power 

 of the bud to transform the roots of the seedling plant when 

 budded into it, I will relate the process of budding the apple. 

 In order to propagate a particular variety, we nurserymen are in 

 the habit of taking the seedling stock, at the age of one or two 

 years, and inserting the bud near the ground, say three or four 

 inches above the root. This must be done while the stock is in 

 the growing state, so that the bark will readily part from the 

 sap-wood. If the bud and stock are both in a proper condition, 

 the bud will soon adhere and grow to the sap-wood. The next 

 spring, when the stock quickens, we cut off the stock just above 

 the bud. This throws the force of the ascending sap into the 

 bud, and it starts into vigorous growth, often growing five or six 

 feet during the season. The following spring the buds again 

 start out near the top of the tree. Some varieties throw out 

 three, and others four or more limbs laterally from the stock, ac- 

 cording to the peculiar habits of variety. As each and every 

 tree has a peculiar form of growth, as much so as the human 

 form or features, an experienced nurseryman will not mistake a 

 variety once in a hundred times, and he judges only by its dis- 

 tinct characteristics of growth. As a general rule the root of a 

 tree conforms to the top. A straight upright top sends its main 

 roots deep into the soil, and if the top is spreading, the roots ex- 

 tend nearer the surface. Now what produces the uniformity in 

 a variety ? The seedling stock has no uniformity in its growth, 

 and consequently the bud must have changed the roots of the 

 seedling to its own form of growth. This shows that the stock 

 and root are subordinate to the bud. This control over the 

 stock could not be exercised, if the grafting were done in the 

 top of a large tree, as the stock would then have the balance of 

 power, although I have no doubt the roots of the graft extend 

 quite a distance down the sap-wood. 



Most trees and plants hold in reserve an innumerable number 

 of latent buds for the repair of any injury that may befall the 



