114 NUT GROWING 



placed the reparative material of the stock already 

 on hand accepted the fresh surface of the scion 

 promptly. 



In patch bud grafting we have become accustomed 

 to removing a square of bark with the bud left in 

 the middle of it. This situation for the bud is un- 

 necessary and is doubtless due to our unconscious 

 response to ideas of symmetry. If the bud is left 

 close to one edge of the square of bark it allows us 

 to sever the bud heart with a straight knife blade 

 sharp knife neatly in the first step of prying off the 

 patch. When prying off a patch with a bud situated 

 in the middle of the patch the heart is often torn out 

 of a large bud, or we injure the bark when trying 

 to sever the bud heart with a straight knife blade 

 passed under the curved bark. Cutting the patch in 

 such a way that the bud is close to one edge of the 

 patch allows us to avoid doing this damage to the 

 large bud. There is only one objection. The patch 

 cutter will not roll over a large bud situated close to 

 the edge of a patch without breaking the bud off. 

 We get around that difficulty by simply marking the 

 bark with the cutter and then completing the work 

 with an ordinary budding knife. This little trick 

 requires a bit more of time for its performance, but 

 one bud requiring three minutes of time for its re- 

 moval and then living is better off than three buds 

 removed in one minute and all dying. In the case 

 of small buds the heart does not matter, but with 

 large buds the accident leaves a hole in which sap 

 may collect and ferment. Furthermore, some of the 



