The Canadian Horticulturist. 



251 



Fig. 61. 



''^\ Having ascertained, by running a 



knife under the bark, that the stock will 

 peel easily, and having some perfectly ripe 

 young shoots with buds upon them, the 

 operation can be performed with a sharp 

 knife that is round and very thin at the 

 point. Make, in the bark of the stock, a 

 longitudinal incision of three-quarters of 

 an inch, and another short one across the 

 top, as in a, Fig. 61 ; run the knife under 

 the bark and loosen it from the wood, 

 then cut from off the young shoots of the 

 desired variety, a bud, as in b, placing the 

 knife a quarter to three-eighths of an inch 

 above the eye or bud, and cutting out 

 about the same distance below it, cutting 

 sufificiently near the bud to take with it a 

 very thin scale of the wood. English gar- 

 deners will always peel off this thin scale, l)ut in our hot climate it should always 

 be left on, as it assists to keep the bud moist, and does not at all prevent the 

 access of the sap from the stock to the bud. The bud being thus prepared, 

 take it, by the portion of leaf-stalk attached, between the thumb and finger in 

 the left hand, and, with the knife in the right, open the incision in the bark 

 sufficiently to allow the bud to be shpped in as far as it will go, when the bark 

 will close over and retain it. Then take a mat-string, or a piece of yarn, and 

 firmly bind it around the bud, leaving only the petiole and bud exposed, as in 

 c. Fig. 61. The string should be allowed to remain for about two weeks, or 

 until the bud is united to the stock. If allowed to remain longer, it will some- 

 times cut into the bark of the rapidly growing stock, but is productive of no 

 other injury. It is the practice with many cultivators to cut off the top of the 

 stock above the bud immediately after inoculation. A limited acquaintance with 

 vegetable physiology would convince the cultivator of the injurious results of 

 this practice, and that the total excision of the branches of the stock while in 

 full vegetation must be destructive to a large portion of the roots, and highly 

 detrimental to the prosperity of the plant. A much better mode is to bend 

 down the top, and tie its extremity to the lower part of the stock. Several days 

 after this is done, the bud can be inserted just below the sharpest bend of the 

 arch. 



