PROPAGATION BY BUDDING AND GRAFTING 129 



outdoors. The greatest disadvantage in its use in budding 

 practice is its habit of rolling when it becomes dry, but it may 

 be dipped in water a few minutes before it is taken into the 

 field, or, better still, it may be allowed to lie on the fresh ground 

 the previous night, during which time it will absorb sufficient 

 moisture to become pliable. 



In two or three weeks after the bud is set, it will have "stuck" 

 or united to the stock. The bandage must then be removed 

 or cut. It is the common practice to draw a budding-knife 

 over the strings, on the side opposite the bud, completely 

 severing them and allowing them to fall. If the strings are 

 left on too long, they will constrict the stem and 

 often kill the bud, and they also have a tendency 

 to cause the bud to " break" or to begin to grow. 

 The bud on summer- and fall-budded stock 

 should remain perfectly dormant until spring, 

 for if it should grow, it will be injured and per- 

 haps killed by the winter. It should remain 

 green and fresh; if it shrivels and becomes 

 brown, even though it still adheres to the stock, 

 it is worthless. A dormant bud, as it appears 

 in the winter following the budding, is shown in 

 Fig. 141. This bud was inserted in August, the 

 picture was made in March, following; the bud 

 should have started to grow in May. 



Advantage may be taken, when cutting the 

 strings, to rebud any stocks that have failed. If 

 the bud should begin to grow because of a warm mant bud of 

 and wet fall or other reasons, there is little plum (x 1)- 

 remedy except perhaps to head the shoot back if it should be^ 

 come long enough. If the stocks are protected by snow in 

 winter, some of the buds at the base of the new shoot may pass, 

 the cold in safety. 



The spring following the budding, the stock should be cut 



FIG. 141. Dor- 



