BUDDING 



operation complete. One rapid budder should be followed by 

 two tyers, so that there should be no inducement to them to scamp 

 their work. 



After about a month the buds should be examined, and if the 

 weather has been so propitious that the sap is still active in the 

 stock, any buds which have not taken 

 may be replaced with fresh ones in- 

 serted a little lower down in the 

 stock. We assume that these will be 

 very few in the ordinary way, for 

 fruit budding is not hazardous, and 

 if the stock, bud, and manipulation 

 be right, the bud is almost sure to 

 live. 



About the middle of September it 

 may be found necessary to somewhat 

 loosen the ligatures, especially where 

 the stock has appreciably swollen, as 

 it naturally would do when healthy. 

 With this in view, the bindings were 

 fastened in a double bow, so that 

 release may be expeditious. By the 

 middle of October it is possible to 

 remove the binding altogether, though 

 it is the custom in some places to 

 let them remain until the weather 

 has rotted them. We prefer the 

 orderly and methodical plan of removing them in October, 

 and utilize the occasion by a close examination as to the well- 

 being of the buds. This completes the year's work, and we 

 shall defer the " after treatment " considerations, in order to deal 

 with grafting, after which the treatment of the one works in with 

 the other. 



FiG. 7. Binding 



