BUDDING FRUIT TREES 



81 



upon a row of seedlings. Bending the seedling over a little and 

 holding it between his left arm and his left leg, he reaches down 

 for a smooth place on the bark as near the ground as convenient 

 to work, and makes a horizontal cut, and from that a perpendicular 

 cut downwards towards the roots, as shown at 3, in the engraving, 

 with the bark slightly lifted and ready for the insertion of the bud. 

 Next he cuts from his bud stick a bud, as shown at 2. This carries 

 with it, on the. back, a small portion of the wood of the bud stick 

 as well as the bucl and bark. It was once claimed that this wood 

 should be carefully dug out, but in budding most kinds of trees it 

 is not necessary ; in fact it may be better to leave it in ; such at 

 any rate is the general practice. The point of the bud is now 

 inserted at the opening at the top of the slit in the bark of the 

 stock and pushed down into place, as shown in figure 5. To handle 

 the bud the part of the leaf stem which is left on is of material 

 assistance. Nothing remains now but to apply the ligature which 

 is to hold down the bark around the bud. 



. There are various ways of tying in the bud. Any way will do 

 which holds down the bark closely, but not too tightly. Different 

 materials are also used, soft cotton twine, stocking yarn, strips of 

 cotton cloth, candle wicking, etc. The last-named is perhaps the 

 best material, on all accounts, although strips of cheap calico bear 

 evenly upon the bark and do very good work. The use of twine 

 is speedy, but the strands bearing upon a narrow surface, and not 

 being elastic, they are apt to do injury by cutting into the bark 

 unless carefully watched and loosened. The fiber from basswood 

 bark was formerly largely used, but has given place to the other 

 materials named, which are more handily obtained. The buds must 

 be examined about a week or ten days after insertion, and the lig- 

 ature loosened, for otherwise it will cut into the rapidly-growing 

 stock. Sometimes trees are badly injured by neglect in this 

 particular. 



In making June buds, where immediate growth of the bud is 

 desired, some growers make a hard knot with the cord around the 

 stock, above the bud, and then use the loose ends to tie the bud. 

 When the binding around the bud is loosened, the hard knot 

 remains on the stock, girdles it, and forces the sap into the bud. 

 Thin w r ire, known to nurserymen as "label wire," is also used for 

 this purpose. 



In going through the nursery row, all seedlings which are 

 large enough are budded at once. In going through the row again 

 to look to the bands, if the bud is seen to be fresh looking, it is 

 considered to have "taken." In stocks where the first bucl has 

 dried up, another is inserted lower down. Sometimes seedlings 

 which were too small to hold a bud at the first working over are 

 given a bud later in the season, or left for taking up for root graft- 

 ing in the winter. 



