24 



PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. 



cose of failure, which is always more or less the case in stocks headed 

 down for grafting. 4th. The opportunity which it affords, when per- 

 formed in good season, of repeating the 

 trial on the same stock. To these we 

 may add that budding is universally pre- 

 ferred here for all stone-fruits, such as 

 Peaches, Apricots, and the like, as these 

 require extra skill in grafting, but are 

 budded with great ease. 



The proper season for budding fruit- 

 trees in this country is from the first of 

 July to the middle of September ; the dif- 

 ferent trees coming into season as fol- 

 lows: Plums, Cherries, Apricots on 

 Plums, Apricots, Pears, Apples, Quinces, 

 Nectarines, and Peaches. Trees of con- 

 siderable size will require budding earlier 

 than young seedling stocks. But the 

 operation is always, and only, performed 

 when the bark of the stock parts or sep- 

 arates freely from, the wood, and when 

 the buds of the current year's growth 

 are somewhat plump, and the young wood 

 is growing firm. Young stocks in the 

 nursery, if thrifty, are usually planted 

 out in the rows in the spring, and bud- 

 Budding-Knives, ded the same summer or autumn. 



Before commencing you should pro- 

 vide yourself with a budding-knife, Fig. 10 (about four 

 and a half .inches long), having a round blade at one end, 

 and an ivory handle, terminating in a thin rounded edge 

 called the haft, at the other. 



Fig. 11 represents another style or form of budding- 

 knife, by many considered preferable. The cutting por- 

 tion extends about one-third around the end of the blade, 

 and about two-thirds of its length, leaving the lower part 

 dull. The rounded end of the blade to this knife obviates 

 the necessity of reversing it for opening the bark when 

 setting a bud, and thus facilitates work. 



In choosing your buds, select thrifty shoots that have 

 nearly done growing, and prepare what is called a stick 

 of buds. Fig. 12, by cutting oif a few of the imperfect buds 

 at the lower, and such as may be yet too soft at the upper 

 ends, leaving only smooth, well-developed single buds ; 

 double buds being fruit-buds. 



Great care is essential in selecting buds, as often even 

 on sticks cut from young trees, and especially from bear- 

 ing trees, many of the single buds will be found developed 

 into fruit-buds, and are therefore unfitted for use. The 

 form of a wood-bud is always long rather than round, and, 

 in the case of peaches, there are sometimes triple buds, 

 A stick of Buds, the centre one of which is always a wood-bud. 



Cut off the leaves, allowing about half an inch of the 



