PROPAGATION BY BCJDDING. 



43 



bud pushed downwards under the bark, fig. 29. A band- 

 ige of bass, corn-husk, or other substance, is wrapped round, 

 covering- all parts but the bud. The pressure should be 

 just sufficient to keep the inserted portion closely to the 

 stock, but not such as to bruise or crush the bark, fig. 30. 

 The shoots containing the buds should be cut when sa 

 •nature as to be rather firm and hard in texture ; they are 

 usually in the best condition after the terminal bud has 

 formed. To prevent withering, the leaves must be imme- 

 diately cut off, as they withdraw and exhale rapidly the 

 moisture from the shoot ; about one quarter of an inch ol 

 the footstalks of the leaves should remain, to serve as handles 

 to the buds while inserting them, fig. 31. i^fter being 

 thus divested of leaves, they may be safelv kept 

 a week in a cool damp place, or sent hundreds 

 of miles in damp moss, or encased separately in 

 thin oil-cloth. 



^W I When by growth, the bandage cuts into the 



\. i stock, usually in ten days to three weeks, it must 



'jy be removed. The bud remains dormant till the 

 (r f following spring, when the stock is cut off two 

 inches or more above it. If cut closer, the end 

 of the stock becomes too dry, and the bud often 

 perishes. All other buds must be then removed, 

 and all the vigor of the stock or branch thrown 

 into the remaining bud, which immediately 

 commences a rapid growth. 



To secure a straight and erect growth, the 

 new shoot, when a few inches long, is tied to the 

 Fig. 3t. remaining stump of the stock, fig 32. By ano- 

 ther month, no further support will be needed, and the stump 

 may be wholly cut away, and the wound allowed to heal by 

 the rapid formation of new wood. 



Buds inserted by midsummer, may be made to grow the 

 same season by heading down the stock when adhesion has 

 taken place ; but although often attempted, no advantage 

 has resulted from this practice, as the growth is compara^ 

 lively feeble, and in consequence of its badly matured wood 

 often perishes the following winter. Even where it escapes 

 it does opt exceed in size at the close of the second season 

 the straight and vigorous shoots of the spring. 



K' 



