86 



OPERATIONS OF GARDENING. 



PAKT I. 



twist, such as is used for lamp-wicks, a sharp penknife, and a 

 budding-knife. The last may be easily made of a thin piece 

 of ivory, filed into the form and size of a lancet, and fixed in 

 a wooden handle. 



The time when the operation can be performed with success 

 depends on the fit condition of the plant to be used as the stock. 

 This can be at once determined by making a cut through the 

 bark down upon the wood, and trying whether the budding- 

 knife can be thrust freely between the bark and the wood. 

 If the bark adheres firmly, so as only to be raised by tearing away, 

 it is of no use to attempt to bud ; but if the bark is found to 

 yield readily, the operation may be safely commenced upon. 

 Make a gash through the bark across the branch in the place 



where it is to be budded upon, 

 and from the centre of this 

 gash make another gash, 

 about an inch and a half 

 downwards (Fig. 15 c). The 

 bud to be inserted must then 

 be taken off' the branch on 

 which it is growing. Select 

 a plump bud, and if, as is 

 commonly the case, it has a 

 leaf growing beneath it, cut 

 the leaf off, leaving about a 

 quarter of an inch of its foot- 

 stalk adhering below the bud- 

 Then pass the penknife into 

 the branch about half an inch above the bud, and slice down a 

 thin piece of the wood with the bark and its bud upon it, bring- 

 ing the knife out at about two-thirds of an inch below the bud. 

 The bark with the bud upon it is called the shield (Fig. 15 a). 

 Before inserting it, it is necessary that the wood adhering to it be 

 removed ; and to do this without injuring the eye of the bud is 

 a matter of some little nicety. But it may be done without risk 

 of failure by holding the shield in the left hand and thrusting 

 the thumb-nail of the right hand between the wood and bark 

 of the upper part of the shield, and then removing the wood 

 from the bark by pulling it off downwards, carefully keeping 

 the bark all the while quite erect and inflexible (Fig. 15 I). By 



Fig. 15. 



