192 PEOPAGA.TIOK OF PLANTS. 



not SO convenient, this mode is rarely practised, except 

 npon plants in which some peculiar condition of the sap 

 at the time of budding seems to require it. 



When the bud is taken from the shoot, as represented 

 in figure 73, c, there is a small piece of wood remaining 

 under the eye, which in budding some kinds of plants it 

 may be desirable to remove, although it is almost an 

 oniversal practice in this country to let the wood remain, 

 and doubtless in a majority of cases, and with most kinds 

 of plants, it is best to do so ; but there are many Euro- 

 pean propagators of plants who insist that a more per- 

 manent union can be secured by its removal. Certain 

 French nurserymen claim that the removal of the wood 

 is quite important in using the Quince as a stock for the 

 Pear, preventing overgrowing or " knotting" at the point 

 of union between stock and bud, but I do not think our 

 own nurserymen have found in their experience that the 

 removal of the wood in the ordinary "shield budding" 

 is an advantage. It may be said, however, in its favor, 

 that when buds are to be taken from large stock branches, 

 like those produced by some varieties of the Pear and 

 certain species of the Magnolia, that by removing the 

 wood we secure a concave shield to set upon the convex 

 surface of the stock, thereby making a better mechanical 

 joining of the two than could be made otherwise. Vari- 

 ous devices have been employed for removing the wood 

 from buds, in addition to the more common one of lift- 

 ing it out with the point of the budding knife, raising 

 the upper end first, and peeling it downward to avoid 

 breaking out the center or heart of the bud too deep, as 

 is likely to occur if the lower end of the wood is lifted 

 first and then pulled out from thid direction. 



But if the wood is to be removed from any considerable 

 number of buds, branches should be used from which the 

 bark will readily peel without tearing or breaking the 

 fibres, and the buds removed as follows ; Hold the 



