968 THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



to prevent them from making weak growth. Sun becomes 

 necessary, and should also be carefully admitted. Great care 

 must be taken in regard to suckers thrown up by vigorous 

 stocks, for if these are left they will soon make headway, taking 

 all nourishment away from the scion. The best way is to 

 remove all eyes along the stocks as soon as the union has 

 succeeded. The grafted plants can then be removed, and they 

 will become gradually strong enough to thrive as established 

 plants ; the ligature can then be taken off, but not that of the 

 grafts covered with grafting- wax. 



Stakes are often necessary to strengthen the subject, securing 

 it from rough treatment; for even if the union appears perfect 

 so far as the outer bark is concerned, in the case of young 

 grafts they easily break off. When they begin to grow they 

 should be pinched up according to the form required. 



Raising of Stocks. — Stocks are always selected from vigorous 

 growing species, and their raising is an important point. In 

 some cases wild species are preferred ; in others the stock plants 

 are raised from seeds, cuttings, or layers, all depending on the 

 most successful mode of reproduction under which they can 

 be increased. 



Budding. 



Budding is a kind of graft differing from others because, 

 instead of using branches as scions, buds, or eyes, are employed. 

 It answers the same purposes as grafting, but many trees and 

 shrubs are more advantageously propagated by this means. Many 

 ornamental trees and shrubs are propagated by budding — e.g., 

 Roses, and many other plants which are used daily in the 

 decoration of our gardens. Acers, Chestnuts, Elms, Rhododen- 

 drons, Hollies, &c, are often propagated by this means. As 

 indicated, budding can be applied with success to both 

 deciduous and evergreen plants, and many fruit-trees are thus 

 increased — e.g., Peaches, Apricots, and Apples. 



By this means of propagation a large number of plants can 

 quickly be obtained from only one scion. In many instances as 

 many as half-a-dozen buds, or eyes, can be obtained from one 

 shoot. Delicate subjects are also strengthened by being budded 

 on more vigorous stocks. Finer fruits and flowers are often 

 obtained in a much shorter time than in the case of plants raised 

 from seeds or cuttings. Often, also, it is noticeable that a plant 

 which will not grow out of doors, or if it does grow, will perhaps 

 not bear fruit, will, if grafted or budded on the stock of a hardier 

 species (observing, as for grafts, the natural classification of plants), 

 flower and fruit plentifully. Buds succeed, or " take," much more 

 readily than grafts, and have the great advantage of making a 

 firmer union. 



