14(i 



NKW KXGLAXU FARMER. 



ceJ ; then m.ikc an incision quite through tiio I 

 biirk without rnateriallv injuring the wood. — 

 Thus 1 now raise the Lark with tlie thumb nnU 

 or point of the kuit'o, and instantly apply tlic 

 bark containing tiic buil, wiiich may be con- 

 veniently separated from its wood by the thumb 

 nail or point of the knife. Perhaps the opcra- 

 ir,' will tind it more convenient to cut out the 

 billet opposite to the chosen bud. Thus the tivig 

 will now serve as a kind of handle to turii oil 

 the bud with more despatch and safety. I5ul 

 wliatever method may be chosen for separating 

 (he bud, no time should be lost after having it 

 •adjusted, till it be close tied on with a woollen 

 string, sufficiently strong for the purpose. Ob- 

 serving to wrap above and below the hud neat- 

 ly, without compressing the bud itself. The 

 strings should be smeared with grafting wax, 

 which will make them better to tie, exclude 

 the air, and remain sound lor future operations. 

 An evening or moist day shouhl be preferred for 

 this method of grafting also. One week is suf- 

 ficient for the strings to remain, for if the buds 

 have not etTected their union in tha time, the}' 

 never will. If they do not appear withered at 

 the time ot removing the string'- or shortly 

 <hereat'tcr, it may fairly be presumtd they will 

 live; bnt if ivithered, the stocks nny be lorth- 

 wit1> Tebudded. .Ml the writers I favc read on 

 budding, state that the buds do not put out till 

 the succeeding year! until .Mr. Andrew Knight 

 recommenced the forcing of them b' a strong 

 ligature above the inserted buds, with the intent 

 to check the flow of sap by them ; but at'ter- 

 wards removes the ligatures, lest thfy have too 

 much sap. This apj)ears to nic like watering 

 a plant till it has a good start, and then with- 

 drawing our care. Alter .Air. Knig.it has been 

 at the trouble to remove his ligatu-ps, he will 

 find his initiated buds again checkel, if not star- 

 ved by the older branches drawing- the sap from 

 (hem. My method of forcing- I deem to ho far 

 more simple : so soon as, I ascertain my buds 

 will live, which may bo known in about a week, 

 if the stock be small I instantly head it down, 

 with one stroke of my knife, immediately above 

 the bud 1 wish to noursh. If the stock be large, 

 I amputate the princpal branches ; the conse- 

 quence is an immcdi.'te bursting of all the latent 

 buds, together with the inoculated. As the in- 

 grafted branches multiply, I diminish the num- 

 ber of the original Jiics, till nothing remains but 

 (he new tree; nor will it be long, till " inj^cns 

 exiit ad arluin ranis jelkibus arhos, Miraturqui: 

 ■novas, frondcs, ctn^m sua jioiiki.""^ 



From this sinific treatment, my buds ^vill ex- 

 tend if inserted early, many feet, with numerous 

 branches the same summer, and be prepared to 

 produce a crop of fruit the ensuing year; na}'. 

 more strange to tell, the same year in some in- 

 stances. Let the theorising orchardist who is 

 fearful of a sununer j)runing, (because his books 

 nor father's have not told him of it,) recollect 

 what is the consequence of breaking a riding 

 switch, or half the boughs of a tree being torn 

 olT bv weight of fruit, or other accident. — 

 Whether is death the result, or a sudden produc- 



* Dr. Darwin has given the following translation of 

 this passage : 



Ho shall the trunk with loftier crest ascend, 

 And VfUW iu air rut)uster anna extend, 

 Nurse the new biutj, admire the leaves unknown, 

 Vud blushing bend with friiitage not its own, 



Ed, .V, E, F'lrnur. 



tion of numerous thriving shoots, in some cases 

 gay flowers ? Hy the by, I think the growing 

 season the jiroper time for pruning, and practise 

 it accordingly, liut whatever may be the prin- 

 ciples of vegetable life, the buds of trees may 

 he thus safely lorced, and if they arc not at sume 

 time, or other forced in the way here recom- 

 mended, they will either never put out, or will 

 put out only to starve; and the sooner they are 

 thus pushed the better 



Rees's Encyclopedia objects to the buds exten- 

 ding the same year in w liich they are inserted, 

 on the ground that they will prove too tender to 

 resist the shock ot winter; but these fears I can 

 assert to be groundless; the lust severe spring 

 put this matter fully to the test with me ; I had 

 the buds of apricots, almonds, white walnuts. Sic. 

 in both states many which hail not put t'orth, 

 were completely destroyed, while those which 

 had made progress resisted the storm. 



The persimmon, [Diospcros Virginiajui) and 

 walnut, &.C, will receive a tarnish on the surface 

 of the wood, in a few seconds after the bark is 

 separated from it. This is a chemical change in 

 '.he sap, caused by its coming in contact with 

 the air, which perhaps may deteat the operation 

 and account lor failures, and for the general 

 opinion that these trees will not succeed at all.* 

 Ijut to insure success the operator must use the 

 greatest dexterity ; having cut through the bark 

 of the stock us before directed, separate the 

 bark containing the bud to be introduced ; this 

 done, keep it close pressed (without being 

 moved from its wood) with the thumb and linger 

 of one hand, while the bark is raised from the 

 stock, with the other, having the string iu 

 readiness, apply the bud and confine it nccordinj 

 to art, Perhaps there is no tree more dillicull 

 to bud than the Persimmon; but choice kinds 

 may be sufficiently well propagated in this way. 

 when budding the hickorynut, persimmon, ches- 

 nut, S;c. grafting wax should be applied to the 

 bud before it is confined with the string, and as 

 much as squeezes out between the w Tappings 

 of the string, should be pressed down with the 

 linger or thumb, so as eflectually to exclude the 

 air; which will make the operation more sure 

 and prevent the depredation of small worms, 

 nhich are liable to infest such trees under the 

 inserted bark. This method of waxing should 

 also be ai)i)lied to the walnut and other difficult 

 trees. The pecan {Curya Olivu-formis) did not 

 appear to take so well as the walnut, but my 

 trials where made rather late iu the season. 1 



* Ret?' F.ncyclopedia says, the miilbrrry, fij, and 

 w.iliiiit, vill only ingraft hy inarching ; and Philip Mil- 

 liT, a very celehi'.ited Knglish ^ardent r, says the apple 

 will in2;raft on none, but its own stock ; hut these are 

 the mistakes of ^nat men. I don't helievc there is any 

 tree that will biid more successfully than the nuilbeny : 

 Ihe walnut tolerably well, and from the few trials 1 

 made with the tig, I am induced to think there may be 

 no diiricnlty with that. I budded some mulberry buds 

 on Ihe 1 1th of Jnne, and by the :;!9th of Auj;nst I meas- 

 ured one upwards of a foot iu length, with ripe frnit. 



.Mr. Knljert Ijofioii, livinsf a few miles from F,d5;e- 

 lield Court House, has in^^rafted apple tret-s whif h he 

 s.ays have flourished upwards of '20 years upon a varie- 

 ty of indigenous hawthorn. 1 have been informed of 

 another instance iu the same district; and I have mv- 

 self very luxuriant crafts on the parsley leaved haw- 

 thorn, which produced apples largje, delicious and un- 

 commonly sound. The most prolific source of igno- 

 rance and oppression is that of suffcrin;; great men to 

 think for us. Crippled indeed would be the operations 

 of nature were they controlled by the theories apd con- 

 ceits of the wisest man. 



succeeded very well in budding the chesnut 

 {castania esnilcnta) to the dwarf chesnut or chiii- 

 quepin {dislaiiia /'«;;u7o,) but from a neglect of 

 a timely waxing had them destroyed by worms. 

 It sreuH to be a prevalent opinion, that buds 

 cannot be separated for any length of time, trom 

 the parent tree without ceasing to vegetate. I 

 kept some cuts of the almond, peach and apricot, 

 nearly a month in moist earth, and budded them 

 with success. They may conveniently be pre- 

 served for a few day's journey, in wei cloth. — 

 But unnecessary delays should, of course, be 

 avoided. 'I'he art of budding and grafting, u» 

 particularly inqiortant in this country, where 

 ivc have at command such a variety of hardy 

 native stocks, and surplus land to devote to trees. 

 The persimmon bears a fruit replete with sugar, 

 which is never injured by the frosts, resists rot 

 perhaps better than any other fruit ; is a verj 

 great bearer, and will flourish \vithout cultiva- 

 tion, on the poorest soils, whether of sand or 

 clay, wet or dry. The wild plum will also grow 

 on very poor land, and is durable ; but grow-l 

 too slow in general for a nursery stock : it sliould 

 have attained a sufficient size previous to grafts 

 ing (say three or four inches in diameter) to 

 keep pace with the rapid growth of the 

 peach and some jilums — remembering always 

 to insert the buds or grafts, as close as pos- 

 sible to the trunk, or a large limb. I'nder these 

 circumstances the wild plum will be found atj 

 excellent stock for an extensive tribe of deli- 

 cious fruits. The same remarks will apply (o 

 the elegant parsley leaved hawlborn when used 

 as a stock for the apple, pear, &:c. ; another ad- 

 vanlige this stock (hawthorn) also has of the 

 ap[)lc and most of the other hawthorns, it is verv 

 hardy, little choice of soils, and is never pl.igued 

 with moss, as it sheds its old bark annually. — 

 Gentlemen, whose land abounds with these 

 hai'Jy native stocks (instead of considering them 

 a nuisance,) might, by selecting the hardiest and 

 richest fruits for grafting, with a small portion 

 ot time and expense, have a profusion of them 

 highly important to man and beast.* 



I hope the readers of the Farmer will not be 

 illiberal in communicating the result of their 

 enquiries to the public, to whom they owe a 

 debt, for rending your paper, which can only be 

 discharged with intellectual coin ; and let the 

 miser in knowledge recollect, that it is a dark 

 body indeed, which is alw.a^s imbibing light 

 without reflecting any. Nor can 1 dismiss this 

 ■subject without inviting the attention of the la- 

 dies thereto ; if the tree of knowledge was for- 

 bid them, this book of knowledge is not. Sure- 

 ly to know Something of grafting is more worthy 

 of their regard, than many of the transient 

 amusements of fashion. Human fashion, like a 

 Proteus, ever changing ; what is taste to-day is 

 ridiculous to-morrow. But, the fashions of Na- 

 ture are eternal as truth, and bestow blessings 

 with an unsparing hand, on those who search 

 them out ! The rose will not only graft and bud 

 well to its genns ; but will take on those of a 

 (litTerent one, by which the plain fruit tree is 

 converted into an inimitable flowering shrub. 

 This art being equally applicable to the propa- 

 gation of flowering shrubs, .as iVuit trees, would 



*In the spring of 18'21, I transplanted some wild 

 plum stocks, from 2 to 3 inches diameter, close pruned, 

 whereon 1 gr.afte<t some pi aches, plums, &c. I counted^ 

 iu the fall of the uiDC year, on a single graft, 2V8 flow* 

 cr buds. 



