22 



PROPAGATION. 



Fig. 11. 



their growth, and require to be budded in 

 the hottest part of our summer. In the 

 old method, the bud having only a shield 

 of bark with but a particle of wood in the 

 heart of the bud, is much more liable to be 

 destroyed by heat, or dryness, than when 

 the slice of wood is left behind in the 

 American way. Taking out this w^ood is 

 always an operation requiring some dex- 

 terity and practice, as few buds grow when 

 their eye, or heart wood is damaged. The 

 American method, therefore, requires less 

 skill, can be done earlier in the season 

 with younger wood, is performed in much 

 less time, and is uniformly more successful. 

 It has been very fairly tested upon hun- 

 dreds of thousand fruit trees, in our gar- 

 dens, for the last twenty years, and 

 although practised English budders coming here, at first 

 are greatly prejudiced against it, as being in direct opposition 

 to one of the most essential features in the old mode, yet a fair 

 trial has never failed to convince them of the superiority of the new. 

 After treatment. In two weeks after the operation you will 

 be able to see whether the bud has taken, by its plumpness and 

 freshness. If it has failed, you may, if the bark still parts 

 readily, make another trial ; a clever budder will not lose more 

 than 6 or 8 per cent. If it has succeeded, after a fortnight 

 more has elapsed, the bandage must be loosened, or if the stock 

 has swelled much, it should be removed altogether. When bud- 

 ding has been performed very late, w^e have occasionally found 

 it an advantage to leave the bandage on during the winter. 



As soon as the buds commence swelling in the 

 ensuing spring, head down the stock, with a sloping 

 back cut, within two or three inches of the bud. 

 The bud will then start vigorously, and all "rob- 

 bers," as the shoots of the stock near to and below 

 the bud are termed, must be taken off from time to 

 time. To secure the upright growth of the bud, 

 and to prevent its being broken by the winds, it is 

 tied when a few inches long to that portion of the 

 stock left for the purpose. Fig. 12, a. About mid- 

 summer, if the shoot is strong, this support may be 

 removed, and the superfluous portion of the stock 

 smoothly cut away in the dotted line, 6, when it will 

 be rapidly covered with young bark. 



We have found a great advantage, when budding 

 trees which do not take readily, in adopting Mr. 

 Knight's excellent mode of tying with two distinct freafmentoftM 

 bandages ; one covering that part below the bud, growing bud. 



