REPRODUCTION BY BUDS 



25 



Fis:ure6. Lengthwise sec- 

 tion through a bud of one of 

 the higher plants. 



be found on the main stem. Fur- 

 thermore, in a great many plants, 

 if one of these twigs be cut off and 

 be given the proper conditions for 

 life, such a bud or twig is able 

 to form roots and to develop 

 a separate plant just as the young 

 hydra bud does naturally. Such 

 buds then as we see every day in 

 plants may be thought of as a kind 

 of multiplication or reproduction 

 of the essential plant structures. 

 The student can see that this is 

 much more than mere growth as 

 our arms or fingers grow. It is 

 more than the lengthening of a 

 stem after it starts. It is rather 

 as if we could bud out a new arm 

 or leg at a new place, which under proper circumstances 

 would develop all the structures which the body has. 



In some of these plants these buds after they are 

 formed may separate from the tree naturally, fall to the 

 ground, and finally grow, take root, and form a new 

 plant. Such are the gemmae of liverworts, the bulblets 

 of ferns, or lilies, and the "sets" of onions. 



6. Practical Use of Budding. In horticulture and 

 orcharding we use this quality of the bud to propagate a 

 species. Suppose in some way we find a peculiarly good 

 individual trees of pecans, oranges, apples, peaches, or 

 any one of a great many others. Instead of planting its 

 seeds, we take cuttings consisting of one or more buds 

 from this tree and graft these into healthy scrub stock. 

 The stock is a stem with plenty of roots. If the grafting 

 is properly done, connection will be made with the stock 

 in such a way that its roots will supply the nourishment 

 to the choice cutting. This cutting will keep its quality 

 and not take that of the stock. Ordinarily in grafting 



