344 



HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



position. But if tlie bud be not deprived of 

 the leaf-atalk, if that is allowed to protrude 

 from the opening, the eye will be secured in 

 the best site. After being inserted, the bud 

 should be drawn upwards to the cross cut, and 

 the upper end cut at the same angle, that its 

 bark may abut against the bark of the stock 

 laid open by the cross cut 6. The bud then is 

 inserted, and it now remains to bind it in. For 

 this purpose, take worsted or bast — the former 

 is generally preferred; commence tying at the 

 bottom of the cut, passing upwards till the 

 whole length of the incision is bound over. 

 Where the buds are feeble, or where success is 

 deemed important, it is customary to tie a little 

 damp moss or a leaf over the bud after the 

 operation is completed, which is in no case ob- 

 jectionable, except on account of the additional 

 time it occupies. 



" About three weeks after the operation has 

 been performed the worsted may be removed. 

 If the bud is not well united, let it be tied up 

 loosely again ; if it is, leave it untied, and there 

 is an end of care till the following spring. In 

 February, the wild shoot may be cut away 2 

 inches beyond the bud, when the latter will 

 break, and soon form a tree. It is often said 

 that it is unnecessary for the bud to remain so 

 long dormant, and that it may be made to 

 break, and, if an autumnal rose, even to flower, 

 the same year." Mr Paul admits the truth of 

 this statement, but condemns the practice. " It 

 is accomplished by cutting off the wild shoot a 

 few inches above the bud, or by tying a ligature 

 tightly round it at the same distance. The ob- 

 ject sought is to cut off certain channels, through 

 which the sap naturally flows, that it may be- 

 come concentrated in the vicinity of the bud. 

 The results are usually premature development 

 and an unsound plant. If the buds break soon 

 after being inserted, the shoots are puny and 

 weakly, evidently suflering from want of 

 nourishment. If allowed to lie dormant till 

 spring, they have a rich store of food at their 

 command, and grow with surprising vigour. 

 When a bud has shot a few inches, and formed 

 two or three good leaves, the heart of the shoot 

 may be pinched out, when from the axle of each 

 leaf an eye will in time push forth. In May 

 the stock may be headed down close to where 

 the bud has been inserted; and if the growth 

 be vigorous, the wound made in so doing will 

 quickly cicatrise, and a perfect plant is the re- 

 sult. If the time for budding be demanded, 

 we should give July. It does not, however, 

 require great penetration to see that this point 

 depends in some measm-e on the season. The 

 practised hand will cut and raise the bark, to 

 ascertain when it parts freely from the wood ; 

 the tyro will find a criterion in the prickles. 

 If slight pressure cause them to separate from 

 the bark, the stocks are in good order, and the 

 fitness of the shoots or scions may be ascer- 

 tained by the same test. If the weather be hot 

 and sunny, morning and evening are the best 

 periods for budding. A July sun pouring down 

 his rays upon the operator is not altogether 

 pleasant, and in regard to the operation, does 

 not increase the chances of success. The shoots 



Fig. 119. 



from which the buds are to be taken should 

 not be cut from the tree till we are ready for 

 action, and the less time that elapses between 

 the different branches of the work the better." 



ScaMop-budding may be performed at almost 

 any season of the year, and also upon trees hav- 

 ing thick or corky bark. It is accomplished by 

 taking a thin tongue-shaped section of bark from 

 the side of the stock, and a similar section from 

 the shoot containing the buds, but in neither 

 case removing the wood. The section contain- 

 ing the bud is then laid on the corresponding 

 scallop in the stock, its upper edge exactly fitted 

 as in shield-budding, and at least one of its edges 

 as in whip-grafting. After this it is secured ia 

 the usual way. 



Annular or ring budding is performed either 

 at the period of the first ascent, or at that 

 of the principal movement of the sap in 

 August. The stock and scion are formed as 

 in fig. 119; but in either case 

 the top of the stock is not to be 

 interfered with. This is a valu- 

 able mode of propagating trees 

 or shrubs with hard wood and 

 thick bark, or those which, like 

 the walnut, have buds so large 

 as to render it difficult to bud 

 them in the common way. This 

 mode is also of great value, and 

 may be turned to good account, 

 where hares or other vermin have 

 destroyed the bark n«ar the 

 ground, or even for fractured 

 bark upon any part of a tree. 

 Eeoourse is frequently had to 

 such a process in America, and 

 it is thus described by Downing : 

 " In snowy winters, fruit trees in 

 orchards are sometimes girdled 

 at the ground by field-mice, and 

 a growth of twenty years is thus 

 destroyed in a single day, should 

 the girdle extend quite round the 

 tree. To save such a tree it is 

 only necessary, as soon as the 

 sap rises vigorously in the spring, to apply a new 

 ring of bark, in the annular mode, taken from a 

 branch of proper size ; tying it firmly, covering 

 it with grafting clay to exclude the air, and 

 finally drawing up the earth so as to cover the 

 wound completely. When the tree is too large 

 to apply a single ring, separate pieces, carefully 

 fitted, will answer ; and it is well to reduce the 

 top somewhat by pruning, that it may not make 

 too large a demand on the root for a supply of 

 food." 



Flute or tube budding. — Of this there are four 

 distinct varieties, witli several modifications ; 

 none are much practised in Britain. Common 

 flute-budding, as will be seen by our figure of 

 annular or ring budding, consists in removing 

 a ring of bark from the stock, and procuring 

 a similar ring of equal size, having a bud 

 or buds, and which is to be fitted to the un- 

 barked part of the stock, making the two barks 

 fit exactly at their point of union. Should the 

 ring to be attached be of rather too large diame- 

 ter, it may be slit down the middle, and a por- 



ANNULAR 

 BUDDING. 



