PROPAGATION BY BUDDING. 49 
only placing, the cion on a piece of root,(as a stalk,) of 
proper thickness,‘and, having fibres and fibrils attached to 
it. In the most. unfavorable :soils;.some sort of fruit-trees 
thrive better than others; and it has been suggested, that 
by using root-stocks of such flourishing trees, and grafting 
other desirable kinds on them, cankermay often be avoid- 
ed, and the better kinds of fruit produced. 
Propagation by. Budding. —Most ‘kinds of fruit-trees 
may be propagated by budding ; and ‘there are some, such 
as peaches and apricots, which can scarcely be multiplied 
in any other manner. It consists in removing a bud with 
a portion of the bark from one tree, and inserting it in a 
slit of the bark of another tree. The season for perform- 
ing this operation is in July or August, when the buds 
destined for the following year are completely formed in 
the axils of the leaves, and when the portion of bark parts 
freely from the wood beneath. . The buds to’ be preferred 
are those on the middle of a young shoot.’ ‘There are many 
forms of budding, but that which is simplest, and is gene- 
rally. practiced in this country, called Shield-budding, need 
alone be described. The operator'should be provided with 
a budding-knife, in which the cutting edge of the blade is 
rounded off at the point, and which has a thin ivory or 
bone handle, like a paper-folder, for raising the bark of the 
stock. A horizontal or transverse incision is made in the 
bark quite down to the wood, and from this incision a per- 
pendicular slit is drawn downwards, to the extent of per- 
haps an inch. The slit (Fig. 3) has now a resemblance to 
the letter T, g; a bud is then cut from the tree wished to 
be propagated, having a portion of the wood attached to it, 
so that the whole may be an inch and a half long, asat s. The 
bit of wood is then gently withdrawn,,care being taken that the 
bud adhere wholly to the bark or shield, as it is called, as at 7 
3 
