306 BUDS MUST BE RIPE. 



It is generally thought that, in all cases, a portion of the 

 wood of the bud must be left adhering to it, or the bud will 

 perish; because its most essential part is the young woody 

 matter in its centre, and not the external surface, which is a 

 mere coating of bark. But this is not the case. Buds taie 

 perfectly well without the assistance of any portion of their 

 own wood ; nor does the removal of the wood injure the eye, 

 which is a vital portion of cellular matter firmly encased in 

 the scales of the bud. Lymburn and other experienced 

 practical men even advocate the total removal of the wood ; and 

 they are doubtless right, because it is only so much inactive 

 matter interposed between the surface of the branch and the 

 nascent tissue there, to which the vital point of the bud has to 

 adhere. What is really essential is that the bud shall be 

 "ripe," or fully formed; and also that it shall be sound. 

 Immaturity or unsoundness are the usual causes of "blintj 

 buds." ., 



Mr Lymburn even recommends, as the result of long experience, that 

 for the usual mode of shaving a hud off a branch with some of its own 

 wood, the operator should cut ih^ bark all round the bud, to the exact 

 shape and size wanted, without disturbing the wood at all. After this, 

 if the thumb is applied to the side of the bud and gently squeezed 

 upwards, the bud will come out as smooth as glass, in the cut, if the 

 bark is free ; and unless it is so, the budding is not likely to do well, 

 For Cherries, Plums, Peaches, and fruit-trees in general, he considers 

 this the best of all methods. 



A practical writer in the Gardeners' Chronicle (1842, 604) makes the 

 following statement as to the necessity for the hud to be ripe : — " Many 

 buds have I inserted in early days in which the eyes have not been 

 sufficiently swollen, and no produce has come forth ; and many a bud 

 have I inserted in the hope that the cambium would fill the vacant hole 

 which fear told me was too large, yet which a scanty supply of buds 

 induced me to retain, but all in vain ; for though the bark adhered, the 

 eye was lost, and many a woody bud inserted thus has become dry 

 before it could adhere. I believe the great secret to be — taking the 

 bud in its proper state, i. v., full-formed (not too near the base of the 

 stock, from which it wiU part with difficulty, nor too near the top, 

 because insufficiently ripe), and to insert it when the receiving plant 

 and the weather are in a favourable state to continue the elaboration of 

 those juices necessary to form a junction. The period of year is, 

 comparatively speaking, immaterial ; I have inserted buds at all times, 



