CHAPTER Xin. 



BUDDING. 



<^ N its broad sense the term grafting, or graftage, includes all 

 ^ there is of budding, which is simply grafting while the tree 

 is growing. But as generally used budding applies to the 

 process by which a bud of the season is removed from its parent 

 plant and induced to unite with and grow upon some other plant 

 congenial to it. In the northern states it is commonly practiced 

 to propagate plums and other stone fruits, and apples and pears, 

 all of which are readily increased in this way. The varieties of 

 some ornamental trees and plants may be propagated by budding, 

 as for instance some varieties of elm, maple, poplar and birch. 

 Most trees that graft readily will bud as 

 readily, while others that are very difiScult 

 to graft will bud very easily. Budding is 

 rather a simpler operation than grafting, 

 and easier for the beginner to perform suc- 

 cessfully. 



The word "stock" is used to designate 

 the plant into which the bud is inserted, 

 and for success it must be of the same or 

 some nearly allied species. Stocks are geh- 

 erally grown from seed and the buds are in- 

 serted in them before they are five years 

 old, and as near the ground as may be. But 

 budding may be done very successfully on 

 any growing branch or stem where the bark 

 is not too hard and stiff to bend easily. It 

 is often used to change the bearing quali- 

 ties of fruit trees of small or medium size. 



Bud-stick is the name given to the 

 shoots from which the buds are taken. It 

 is also referred to as the scion, but the scion 

 proper is the piece which is inserted in the 

 stock. In Fig. 80 is shown at D' a bud-stick 

 prepared for use by cutting off all but 

 about one-half inch of the stock of the leaf, 

 which part is left for a handle. 

 108 



Fig. 80.— Showing Bud 

 Sticks. 



