220 



AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



of its growth. If this equal or exceed the gi-aft in freedom, 

 healthful vigor of growth in the tree is secured ; if it fall much 

 short of the freedom of the graft growth, diseased or morbid 

 action is superinduced, and hence the dwarfing, premature 

 fi'uiting, and limitation of life. 



Fig. 103. 



BUD SCION AND BUDS. 



fl. r>ud .^ciou trimmed fur use, .inc! iuverted 



a.^ it must be held in cutting out the 



buds. 

 b. Tlie bud ag cut from tlie inverted scion, 



with tile wood in. 

 c: Tlio bud turned to its natural direction, 



Avitli the wood talien out. 



The young shoot from which buds 

 and grafts are cut is called a scion, and 

 sometimes the graft itself is improper- 

 ly so called. The bud scion is prepared by trimming off 

 its leaves so far as the l^uds are full and ripe for use, cut- 

 ting each leaf stem a quarter or half an inch from the 

 bud, cutting off the Ijutt end of the scion upon which the 

 Ijuds may not 1je plump, and rejecting at discretion four 

 or six inches of its point, on which the buds, though 

 ^'['P plump, may not Ije ripened. 



The necessary bandages, which may be prepared from any 

 of the materials named for ties, page 218, should be cut into 

 lengths of from twelve to eighteen inches, and strung to a gir- 

 dle or through a button-hole, so as to be conveniently out of 

 the way until wanted. 



Taking the prepared scion in your left hand, uith its point 

 to2card you (Fig. 103 a), hold it fir-mly between your thumb and 

 the second joint of the middle finger, while the point of your 

 extended fore-finger supports and steadies it precisely mider- 

 neath the bud which you intend to remove. 



With your budding-knife, perfectly keen, in your right hand, 

 held firmly by the fingers as when sharpening a lead-pencil, 

 witli the right thumb hiid, not undei', but upon the scion, im- 

 mediately against the point of the left tliumli, stretch the hand 

 imtil the knife rests fltitly upon the scion, half an inch or a lit- 

 tle more back of the bud ; then entering the edge, carefully and 



