SEEDLINGS AND SHOOTS 81 



the leaves, care being taken to leave about an 

 incli of stem. These stem stubs come in handy 

 later. Next the bud sticks are cut into pieces 

 about an inch long, each with a bud in the mid- 

 dle. Usually the cuts do not go quite through 

 the stem, so that each bud is left hanging to its 

 original stick by a few bits of fiber. 



Everything is now ready for the budder. He 

 is an expert workman and every move cfOunts. 

 With two motions of his sharp knife, he makes 

 a T-shaped slit through the bark of the first 

 little tree, just an inch or two above the ground. 

 Next he clips a bud from the bud stick, and hold- 

 ing it firmly by the leaf stub slips it down under 

 the bark in the little T-shaped slot prbvided 

 until the cambium of the bud and the stock 

 press close 'together. The bud is now set and 

 the budder 's work on the little tree is finished. 

 Its whole nature has been changed — it is "bom 

 again." The budder passes on to the next tree 

 and a boy with a bunch of strings, or wood fiber, 

 takes his place. Very carefully the lad binds 

 and ties the bud set, so that the bud and stock 

 wiU stay together until they ' ' knit. ' ' The bind- 

 ing serves, also, to keep death-dealing insects 

 and disease germs from settling in the wound. 

 A good budder can keep two or three boys busy. 

 He often sets three thousand buds a day. In 



