8 beginners' guide to fruit growing 



serted in the incision in the cion. The graft may 

 then be tied with grafting twine, but in many cases 

 this extra care will be found unnecessary. This 

 method has sometimes been rather imaginatively 

 called the "foster-mother graft." It is useful espe- 

 cially for those varieties which root readily from 

 the cions. At the end of the first year's growth, 

 then, the little stock may be removed, leaving an 

 own-rooted tree, free from all foreign influences of 

 a strange stock. In some cases this is considered 

 advantageous. 



BUDDING 



Budding accomplishes the same ends as whip- 

 grafting, but in a very different manner. It has 

 advantages and disadvantages. As a rule it is prac- 

 ticed with the stone fruits generally, the reason 

 being that the wood of these fruits is so soft and 

 brittle that it cannot be cut in the forms required 

 for grafting. Budding is also used largely on apple 

 and pear trees. Some nurserymen prefer budding; 

 others think grafting serves them better. The 

 nurserymen of the eastern states usually propagate 

 apples by budding; those of the central-western 

 states mostly prefer the method of root-grafting. 



Just here we may answer a common question as 

 to the comparative value of the results. Sometimes 

 a nurseryman will claim great advantages for his 

 trees because they are budded rather than grafted; 

 at other times men will claim the precedence for 

 grafted trees; frequently special claims are put 

 forth for trees propagated by some special method — 

 perhaps some mysterious secret method. It is 

 proper to treat all such claims either as pure bosh 



