214 APPLICATION OF PEINCIPLES. 



and scion does not take place, and the union of the 

 two is mucli less certain : as it is, however, usually- 

 practised with tender shoots before the wood is con- 

 solidated, the contact spoken of is of less moment. 

 In all cases, a portion of the wood of the bud must 

 be left adhering to it, or the bud will perish ; because 

 its most essential part is the young woody matter in 

 its centre, and not the external surface, which is a 

 mere coating of bark.* 



In the Agricultural Journal of the Pays Bos for 

 October, 1824, it is recommended to reverse the 

 usual mode of raising the bark for inserting the buds, 

 and to make the cross cut at the bottom of the slit, 

 instead of at the top, as is generally done in Britain. 

 The bud is said rarely to fail of success, because it 

 receives abundance of the descending sap, which it 

 cannot receive when it is under the cross cut. This 

 explanation is unintelligible, and there is no ap- 

 parent advantage in the method ; it is, however, 

 practised by the orange-growers of the South of 

 France. 



Mr. Knight was accustomed on some occasions to 

 employ two distinct ligatures to hold the bud of his 

 Peach trees in its place. One was first placed above 

 the bud inserted ; and upon the transverse section 



* [This is the unirersal opinion, but it is not always practically 

 true ; for if the operation be performed at a favorable period, when 

 the tree abounds with sap, the space left by extracting the woody 

 matter will be almost immediately filled by a new deposit. But 

 leaving the wood in the bud, in working fruit-trees, is the general 

 and most successful practice. A, J. D.] 



