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of the hard blasts of winter. The best place to keep them is 

 a dark, cool cellar, where frost will not touch them. In trans- 

 planting them in early Spring, when the ground is fit, cut 

 back a portion of the tap roots, ■end shorten the stem corres- 

 pondingly. Set them out two feet apart in drills, which will 

 give them ample room to throw out lateral roots, and grow 

 strong and stocky. We know of a party in Bradford who lost 

 several hundreds of pear seedlings by leaving them in the 

 ground the first winter. If a strong, vigorous growth is ob- 

 tained after transplanting, they will be fit to bud the same sea- 

 son, about the middle of August. Now, then, having procured 

 good healthy stocks to bud on, it will be also necessary to pro- 

 cure good, sound, healthy buds. This can be easily done by 

 selecting from the varieties that are to be propagated, strong, 

 vigorous shoots, free from any disease. Pinch off their tip- 

 ends and let them grow until wanted. This will hasten the 

 development of the buds, and they will be in good condition to 

 use in about two weeks. None but the most prominent buds 

 should be used under any circumstance, as it is this little bud 

 that is inserted under the bark of the stock, that becomes in 

 future the standard tree. Budding is simple enough when 

 rightly understood, but to meet success it must be done right. 

 The first thing to be done in performing the operation, is to re- 

 move from the stock any shoots that would be apt to interfere 

 with the insertion of the bud ; then with the budding knife 

 make two incisions in the stock, one horizontal and the other 

 perpendicular, in the form of the letter T, about two or three 

 inches from the ground ; strip off the leaves from the bud 

 shoot, but leave a portion of the leaf-stock attached to the bud 

 to handle it with. In cutting the bud off hold the shoot in one 

 hand and the budding knife in the other ; enter the knife half 

 an inch above the bud and draw it down parallel with the shoot 

 and bring it out three-quarters of an inch below the bud. Care 

 must be taken to make a clean cut and not to take oft any wood 

 with the bark. But if a little should be taken off", see that it 

 adheres firmly to the bark, as ragged bark and little slivers of 



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