OPERATION OF GRAFTING. 



359 



astride the stock, it is, when united by the wood, firm and 

 straight. But in all cases, success will depend upon the ex- 

 act coincidence of the scion and the stock, in their inner 

 barks and alburnum, in which the sap flows up, and the 

 cambium down, and where the process of assimilation takes 

 place. 



4. Budding consists in introducing 



a bud of one tree into the bark of 

 another. The process is as follows : 

 An incision is made (Fig. 23), 

 through the bark to the wood, and 

 then crossed at the top a with a simi- 

 lar incision. A bud is now select- 

 ed by paring it from the branch, tak- 

 ing care to cut a small quantity of 

 the alburnum directly under the eye, 

 and a portion of the bark, a. This 

 is then inserted below the bark of the 

 stock, until the bud is in contact with 

 the wood, and the upper lip of the wood in the stock is made 

 to coincide with that of the bud. The whole is then bound 

 by a ligature. The object in this process is, to bring in 

 close contact a large surface "of young organizing matter," 

 and as the bud is thus freely supplied with nutriment, it soon 

 unites by the edges, and the following spring developes itself 

 in the form of a branch. The period for budding is generally 

 about the middle of August, or at a time when the bark will 

 easily peal from the stock. In selecting stocks for grafting 

 and buddmg, regard should be had to the soil and climate. 



Sect. 3. Pruning, Training, Potting and Transplanting. 



I. Pruning. The object of pruning is to remove branches 

 and leaves, so as to contribute to the beauty, health and pro- 

 ductiveness of the plant or tree. 



