ON THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 41 



Many trees and plants are budded when they are not in 

 a healthy condition, and the consequence is, that they will 

 jnost generally be only disfigured, and the bud will certainly 

 perish. There are many persons who set some definite lime 

 for budding trees, and they generally choose July and August. 

 To such rules I cannot subscribe, because different kinds of 

 trees even require a different season ; for instance, the pear 

 may be budded to good advantage in June, whilst the peach 

 should be deferred to September; while the rose may be 

 budded any time from May until October, and even in the 

 winter, if the bark or rind parts freely from the wood. Many 

 persons, also, are advocates for leaving the piece of wood in 

 the bud and inserting it entire, assigning as the reason for do- 

 ing this, its having more substance, and being less liable to 

 perish by drought. I have never been satisfied that this is 

 any improvement on the old mode of taking out the wood; 

 only in cases where buds have to be taken off too young or 

 too old, when the rind will not part from the wood without 

 injuring it. When the wood is taken out from the bud, it 

 sets closer to the stock, and, besides, it is more in its natural 

 position than when the wood is left in, which is of no use, 

 and leaves a cavity between the alburmenoftlie stock and the 

 inner part of the rind of the buds, the very parts where the 

 union ought first to take place. It may be laid down as a 

 general rule, that budding is the best when done in moist, 

 damp weather, as the rind parts freer then, and the buds take 

 better ; and, indeed, the morning and evening are better than 

 the middle of the day, in hot weather. 



