GARDENING. 115 



dead, but those which remam fresh and plump you 

 may depend are joined. At this time you should loosen 

 the bandage, which, if not done in time, will pinch the 

 stock, and greatly injure, if not destroy, the bud. 



"The March following,'' (perhaps April in this coun- 

 try,) "you must cut off the stock close to the bud, 

 sloping it that the wet may pass off, and not enter the 

 stock. To this part of the stock, left above the bud, 

 it is very proper to fasten the shoot which the bud 

 makes in summer, to secure it from being blown out; 

 but this part of the stock must continue on no longer 

 than until the bud has acquired strength to support 

 itself, after which it must be cut off close above the 

 bud that the stock may be covered thereby. 



"The time for inoculating is from the middle of 

 June to the middle of September, according to the for- 

 w^ardness of the season, and the particular sorts of 

 trees to be inoculated, which may be easily known by 

 trying the buds, whether they will come off well from the 

 wood. But the most general rule is, when you observe 

 the buds formed at the extremity of the same year's 

 shoots, which is a sign of their having finished their 

 spring growth." 



METHOD OF FORCING FRUIT TREES TO BLOSSOM AND 

 BEAR FRUIT. 



With a sharp knife cut a ring round the limb or 

 small branch which you wish should bear, near the 

 stem or large bough where it is joined: let this ring or 

 cut penetrate to the wood. A quarter of an inch from 

 this cut, make a second like the first, encircling the 

 branch like a ring a quarter of an inch broad between 

 these two cuts. This bark, between these two cuts, 

 must be removed clean down to the wood ; even the fine 

 inner bark, which lies immediately upon the wood, must 

 be scraped away, until the bare naked wood appears, 

 white and smooth, so that no connexion whatever re- 

 mains between the two parts of the bark. The barking 

 or girdling must be made at the precise time when, in 

 all nature, the buds are strongly sweirmg, or about 



