PROPAGATION BY BUDDING. 



339 



ten or a dozen more have been added since lie 

 wrote. These for the most part owe their ori- 

 gin to foreign cultivators, who are not only ex- 

 pert in performing the operation, but attach 

 considerable importance to some or other of the 

 various modes. Few comparatively of these 

 are practised by the British gardener, who very 

 judiciously calculates more on success than on 

 manipulations from which apparently little is 

 to be gained. All the modes are, however, 

 based upon the same principle — viz., the union 

 between the bud and stock, which takes place, 

 iu the first instance, in consequence of the exu- 

 dation of organisable matter from the soft 

 wood or alburnum of the stock ; and that union 

 is rendered permanent and complete by the re- 

 turning sap from the leaves of the stock, or 

 from those of the shoots made by the bud. 



The rationale of budding has been thus laid 

 down by Mr George Lindley, in " Guide to the 

 Orchard :" — " Budding differs from grafting in 

 this, that a portion of a stem is not made to 

 strike root on another stem, but that, on the 

 contrary, a bud deprived of all trace of the 

 woody part of a stem is introduced beneath the 

 bark of the stock, and there induced to strike 

 root. In this operation no care is requisite in 

 securing the exact contact of similar parts, and 

 a free channel for the transmission of the roots 

 of the bud between the bark and wood of the 

 stock ; for, from the very nature of the operation 

 of budding, this must of necessity be insured. 

 The bark of the bud readily coheres with the 

 wood of the stock, and secures the bud itself 

 from all accidents or injury. But if precautions 

 of the same nature as in grafting are not requi- 

 site in budding, others are of no less moment. 

 It is indispensable that the bud which is em- 

 ployed be fully formed, or what gardeners call 

 ripe. If it is imperfectly formed) or unripe, it 

 may not be capable of that subsequent elonga- 

 tion upwards and downwards upon which the 

 whole success of the practice depends. Second- 

 ly, great care should be taken, in raising the 

 bark of the stock for the insertion of the bud, 

 that the cambium be not disturbed or injured. 

 The cambium is a secretion between the wood 

 and bark, not only destined to support the de- 

 scending fibres of the buds, but also to generate 

 that new cellular substance within which the 

 descending fibres are finally found imbedded. 



" If, in the preparation of the bait for receiv- 

 ing the bud, this cambium be injured or dis- 

 turbed, it becomes much less capable of effecting 

 the cohesion that is necessary than if uninjured. 

 In budding, therefore, the bark should be care- 

 fully lifted up, and not forced from the wood 

 with a bone or metal blade, as is usually done ; 

 for although it is no doubt true that an opera- 

 tion clumsily performed will often succeed, yet 

 it should be remembered that, if skilfully ma- 

 naged, it would be attended with much more 

 success ; and that a habit of continually operat- 

 ing with delicacy will enable the gardener to 

 succeed with certainty, in cases in which a 

 bungling practitioner would be sure to fail." 



Besides the mere purpose of propagation, 

 budding induces important changes in the con- 

 dition of plants ; as, for example, buds trans- 



ferred from a seedling tree or shrub, and placed 

 on one of greater age, will produce fruit and 

 flowers sooner than if left on the parent plant. 

 Weak-growing plants, budde_d on stocks of a 

 stronger character, become strengthened ; and 

 hence the weaker-growing vines attain greater 

 strength when budded on the Nice or Syrian. 

 The double yellow rose, which seldom flowers 

 naturally, will do so if budded on some of the 

 stronger-growing China varieties ; and almost all 

 weak-growing plants, if wrought upon stronger- 

 growing ones of the same species, will be equally 

 strengthened. 



Almost all buds are formed at the axle of the 

 leaves or extremity of the branches, and contain 

 the rudiments of future leaves, branches, or 

 fruit, as well as in many cases the means of pro- 

 pagation. Buds do not spontaneously disen- 

 gage themselves from the plant to form new 

 individuals, but they may be taken off by man, 

 and artificially made the means of producing 

 future plants. When buds are situated as above, 

 they are called normal or irregular buds, to dis- 

 tinguish them from those that are placed around 

 the collar of the plant, upon the leaves or stem, 

 or otherwise not being axillary or terminal, and 

 which are called adventitious. Some plants do 

 not produce buds, such as annuals ; and even 

 many trees in tropical countries are equally 

 destitute of them, while in cold countries they 

 universally exist. 



The season for performing the operation of 

 budding is in spring, when the sap is rising, and 

 in the end of siimmer — say July or August — • 

 when the sap is descending. In the former 

 case the inserted bud develops itself imme- 

 diately, while in the latter this development 

 does not take place till the spring following. 

 At other seasons, also, the operation has been 

 successfully accomplished, much depending on 

 the kind of tree, and also on whether it be an 

 early or late season. In budding at an early 

 season, it is of importance to insert the bud 

 with the whole of its wood attached; but as the 

 season advances, and the buds have attained 

 their full maturity, the less of this woody mat- 

 ter that is retained the better. "Budding in 

 spring or early summer is generally accompa- 

 nied, it may be presumed, by a copious current 

 of sap. Not so, however, late summer-budding 

 on all occasions ; for the season may have been 

 unusually warm and dry, the stock may be short 

 of sap — or, in other words, be beset with a pa- 

 ralysed root action. All these are impediments. 

 A copious watering the evening previous to the 

 process will, however, promote the free rising of 

 the bark,on which so much depends. In addition 

 to this, a cloudy day is preferable to a sunny one." 

 — Cott. Gard, Diet. Mild cloudy weather is in 

 general preferred for this operation, because the 

 viscous surfaces exposed to the air are more liable 

 to be dried up by evaporation, by which the heal- 

 ing process is retarded, if not entirely prevented ; 

 besides, in dry windy weather the bark will not 

 rise so well. This opinion has, however, been 

 of late questioned by Mr Saul of Bristol, who 

 says, in the "Gard. Mag. of Botany," "that in 

 warm weather the sap is more gelatinous ; and 

 the bud, on being extracted and inserted in the 



