BUD 



[ 157] 



BUD 



Budding, as before observed, is per- 

 formed at various seasons ; and in very 

 early budding, it is considered in the majo- 

 rity of cases prudential, if not absolutely 

 necessary, to insert the whole of the shield 

 or bud with its own system of wood at- 

 tached. When the summer is far advanced, 

 however, and the buds are become indivi- 

 dually perfect or nearly so, in their or- 

 ganization, the case alters, and the less 

 of intervening matter there exists be- 

 tween the bud and its immediate appur- 

 tenances of petiole, and bark, the better. 



Budding, then, in spring or early 

 summer, is generally accompanied, it 

 may be presumed, by a copious current 

 of sap ; not so, however, late summer 

 budding on all occasions ; for the season 

 may have been unusually warm and dry; 

 the stock or subject may be short of sap, 

 or, in other words, be beset with a pa- 

 ralysed root action : all these are impedi- 

 ments. A copious watering the evening 

 previous to the process, will, however, 

 promote the free rising of the bark, on 

 which so much depends. In addition to 

 this, a cloudy day is preferable to a 

 sunny one. 



In former days the chief criterion of 

 the eligibility of a tree for the budding 

 process was the cessation of growth, or 

 rather of extension, in point of length in 

 the stock. Such generally happens in 

 fruit-trees such as the peach, apricot, 

 cherry, plum, &c., about the first or se- 

 cond week in August. The period, of 

 course, being liable to be modified by 

 several circumstances, as heat, drought, 

 &c. Instead, however, of thus waiting 

 until the eleventh hour, it is better to 

 make an earlier commencement ; and 

 there is little occasion to delay after the 

 middle of July has passed, unless the 

 stocks or scions are subjects of late 

 growth and excessive luxuriance. 



The exact position of the bud being 

 determined, the incision is made across 

 the stock transversely, in length suffi- 

 cient to create an opening for the bud ; 

 this slit forms the head of the incision, 

 which, when the next slit is made, will 

 form the letter T- I 11 making this slit, 

 or incision, a somewhat bold cut must 

 be made, in fact, the point of the knife 

 must be made to reach the surface of the 

 wood of the stock. 



The perpendicular slit is made from 

 the bottom upwards, and an experienced 

 budder gives a peculiar flirt or jerk to 

 the knife when he approaches the head 

 of the T : this jerk at once rifts up the 

 bark better than any slower process could 

 do it ; and the haft of the budding-knife 

 is in a moment turned round, and the 

 point introduced ; and, by pressing it 

 close to the wood, right and left, the 

 bark is, as it were, ploughed up, or libe- 

 rated from the wood. 



All is now ready for the reception of 

 the bud, which is, indeed, by most good 

 budders prepared first, as follows : The 

 cutting or shoot of the kind to be inserted 

 being wood of the current year's growth, 

 is generally kept in a waterpot, first cut- 

 ting off all the leaves : care must, how- 

 ever, be taken to leave most of the 

 petiole (leaf stalk) to handle the bud by : 

 this also, doubtless, assists in forming a 

 speedy union. 



The bxid, with its bark and a little of 

 the wood of the tree, is then cut oif in 

 the form of a shield ; and the point of 

 the knife and thumb-nail of the right 

 hand, by a little nice handling, are made 

 to remove the portion of woody matter 

 from the centre. The bud is instantly 

 introduced beneath the bark in the T i n ~ 

 cision of the stock, where, as before ob- 

 served, it is found in the same relation 

 to the stock or stem of its new parent as 

 existed between it and the shoot whence 

 it sprang. This done, it is carefully 

 and closely, but not tightly, bound with 

 the bast ; the operator generally begin- 

 ning to bind at the lower end, gives an 

 extra tug with the mat when he comes 

 tolerably close to the lower end of the 

 petiole. This is an old practice, and not 

 particularly intelligible ; the meaning, 

 we suppose if meaning it have being, 

 that the tightness of the ligature in that 

 precise position impedes slightly the re- 

 turning sap, thereby concentrating it 

 about the bud. 



Some persons employ a grafting wax 

 to cover the parts where air may enter ; 

 the following mixture will make a very 

 useful kind : Sealing wax, one part ; 

 mutton fat, one part ; white wax, one 

 part; honey, one-eighth part. The 

 white wax and fat are first melted, and 

 then the scaling wax is to be added, gra- 



