CHAPTER X. 



Winter Budding. 



WHILE summer budding is one of the most common 

 forms of tree propagation, a friend of mine, a most 

 progressive horticulturist, James Hancock, of Bee- 

 ville, Texas, has been for some time practicing a different 

 method with perfect success in winter and early spring, before 

 the sap begins to move or the bark will separate from the 

 wood. I also tried this method in February and later with 

 perfect success. He advises cutting off a little of the wood 

 with bark from the stock, though I tried some with bark alone 

 and all took. The accompanying cut (see next page) will illus- 

 trate how it is done. Insert the knife into the limb or stock, 

 just as if a bud was to be cut and draw it downward an inch or 

 less, pressing the cut bark back a little to keep it open. (See 

 Fig. 2, on limb.) The bud is then slipped down next to the 

 cut surface to the bottom. It is best to make the bud fully as 

 long or a little longer than the cut on the limb, and let the up- 

 per end lap a little. The flap is then pressed back, and tied 

 firmly, as in budding, completely covering the bud itself. Of 

 course, the leaf stalk must be cut off close, just at the bud, so 

 the flap will fit tight. Buds can be put in thus all winter, and 

 especially in early spring, and not one in a hundred will fail. 

 This method is especially valuable for budding large trees and 

 limbs, instead of top-grafting, which is far more work, and 

 less certain to succeed. An orchard can be cut back and very 

 quickly changed into another variety of fruit at any point 

 above the ground desired, provided the bark on the limbs is 

 smooth enough to bud. 



The past spring, just before the leaves pushed, but when 

 the buds were swollen, I saw five hundred four-year-old 

 peach trees thus treated by top-budding without a single fail- 

 ure. Five and six buds were quickly put into the main limbs 



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