324 Budding the fig. 
inches in length. The cut at the lower end should be made at 
the joint, or where solid wood is found. The planting and care 
of the cuttings is essentially the same as of vine cuttings, already 
described. If well made and cared for, a very satisfactory 
growth is made the first season, and the trees are ready for 
planting out in permanent place the following season. 
Single-bud Cutiings—-lf one desires to multiply a new vari- 
ety very rapidly, single-eye cuttings will make plants. This is, 
also, analogous to single-eye grape cuttings, as already de- 
scribed. 
The engravings show different styles of fig cuttings. Fig. 
1 is the cutting usually employed, and its start in bud and roots 
is shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 is from the tip of a shoot, and Fig. 
4 is a single-eye cutting. 
Budding the Fig —The foregoing means enable one to prop- 
agate a fig so rapidly that recourse is not had to budding, as in 
propagating other trees; still, budding is feasible, either on small 
plants or on young shoots of old trees which it is desired to 
over. 
The fig may be budded by the common shield method, as 
used for ordinary fruit trees, and described in Chapter IX, but 
owing to the tendency of the fig bark to shrink in drying, the 
bud should be closely bound in with a narrow waxed band, to 
exclude the air. As the bark is thick, it is often desirable to cut 
out a little of the edges closest to the bud when in place. 
A better method of budding the fig is by annular or “ring 
budding,” a method also relied upon with the walnut and chest- 
nut.* Annular budding, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is done in 
the fall. A circular ring of bark is taken off from the stock, as 
shown in the first figure on the left, which operation is done by 
the aid of a budding knife, by running two circular cuts around 
the stock. and a longitudinal one between the two circular cuts, 
the ring of bark taken off having the appearance shown in 
Fig. 2. This ring must be at least one inch wide, and from that 
up to two inches. A like ring of bark is taken off in the same 
manner from a scion of the variety to be budded in, and from a 
branch of the year, or preceding one, well in sap, and having 
about the same diameter as the stock. This ring should have 
on it one or two buds. It must fit exactly the space (a) seen on 
Fig. 1, and more particularly at the lower circular cut (b), so that 
both barks will exactly unite at that point. When the ring is 
too long, a little bit of it might be cut off with a very sharp 
knife till it fits well; if the ring is too large for the stock, a lon- 
gitudinal strip would be cut out, and if too narrow, such a strip, 
if with a bud on so much the better, will have to be used to 
* Felix Gillet, Nevada City, in Rural Press. 
