CHAPTER VI 
“ BUDDING 
THIS process consists in taking an eye or a bud attached 
to a portion of the bark and transferring it to another 
and different plant; it is an operation almost confined to 
woody plants, but has been practised with more or less 
success upon herbaceous perennials. The stock should 
not be budded unless the sap is in circulation, which is 
assured if the bark will detach itself easily when gently 
lifted from the wood. 
There are many ways of performing the different. 
systems, in preparing and inserting the buds, etc., and 
all may prove more or less successful if undertaken 
when the buds and stock are both in a suitable con- 
dition. The principal methods are shield, or T-budding 
(including the circular, square, and inverted forms), 
flute, or tube-budding, and annular, or ring-budding. 
The first-named method, which is fully described in 
this chapter, is very extensively practised for propa- 
gating Roses and stone fruit. It also has come more 
into use for the propagation of many other fruit-trees, 
including Apples and Pears, especially new and scarce 
varieties, as the great advantage of making use of 
many more of the eyes, to form separate trees, is 
thereby attained. In large nurseries, where skilful 
propagators are employed, thousands of trees are 
annually budded, the majority of them with very suc- 
cessful results, It is, in most cases, preferable to 
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