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the bud will readily lift the bark as you push it downward into its 

 position. The stock to be budded should be trimmed so as to have as 

 few as possible branches or leaves in the way of the operator. The 

 trimming should be done several days beforehand so that the wounds 

 may be in a healing condition and the flow of sap not checked by too 

 much cutting at the time of budding. The budding knife should be 

 sharp that it will (nit through the hard wood of the bud without split- 

 ting the fiber of the wood or bark. 



Select buds from healthy and vigorous trees of the variety to be 

 propagated. They should not be too old or they will be slow in start- 

 ing, nor too young lest they perish. The wood from which they are 

 taken should be nearly mature, between the angular and the, round. 

 Select buds with well developed eyes. It is sometimes the case 

 that insects have eaten out the eyes. It is useless to put in such buds. 

 In cutting the bud from the branch do not hold the blade of the knife 

 at right angles with the branch, as in such a position it is likely to slip 

 in and out following the grain of the wood and so giving an uneven 

 surface to the face of the bud. The face of the bud should be so level 

 and straight that when it is pushed into its position the cut surface 

 should at all points touch the wood of the stock and so exclude the air. 

 To prevent this irregularity of surface hold the blade of the knife 

 firmly in the hand and almost parallel with the branch from which the 

 bud is being cut. In cutting draw the knife to you as the cut will be 

 smoother by this method than if the bud were severed from the branch 

 by simply pressing the blade through the wood. The knife should be 

 inserted half an inch above the bud and come out a half or three quar- 

 ters of an inch below. It is better to insert the bud on the north side 

 of the stock. The incision in the stock should be made with a down- 

 ward cut and about three fourths of an inch long. At the top of this 

 incision make a cross incision, each time only cutting through the 

 bark. With the point of the knife, turning the back of the blade 

 to the wood, so as not to dull the blade, raise the bark at the top 

 of, k and on either side of the first incision so as to enable you to 

 insert and push down the bud. If the sap is flowing freely the 

 bud in its downward motion will easily l^ft the bark and as it 

 takes its position exclude the air from beneath it and the wood 



