OF BUDS. 57 
they develop themselves in the form of branches, and extend the 
tree, nourishment being carried through them to every leaf and 
fibre. It is also one of their peculiarities that, without injury to 
these organs, they may be separated from the parent plant and 
placed upon another, which, so to speak, becomes its nurse. 
Horticulturists profit by this circumstance to produce some of their 
finest flowers and fruits. This process, known to gardeners as 
budding or grafting, is practised in many different ways, but in 
all the principle is the same; the bud without any of the wood is 
carefully removed from the parent tree and applied to a corre- 
sponding cut in the nursing one, covering the wound so as to keep 
out the air. Fig. 71 shows the 
manner in which the cushion graft fg 
is performed ; B represents the bud [@ 
after it has been removed from the ji 
parent branch; a the nursing stem 
in which an incision in the form 
of a T has been made to receive it; 
c the graft secured in its place by 
means of wool or cotton thread, 
wound lightly, but closely round 
both. The bud continues to grow 
on its new nurse, and in course of 
time it forms a branch or head of 
a tree producing the same flowers 
and fruit for which the parent 
may have been celebrated. We need not enlarge here on tie’ im- 
portance of this principle ; it is applied most successfully in horti- 
culture, where some delicate species of fruit or flowers is produced 
on a stem destitute of the vigour necessary to nourish and bring it 
to maturity 
The leaf-bud is thus a coneform organ placed on the axis of a 
leaf, in short, a rudimentary leaf or branch formed as the growing 
season 18 closing, and is the nidus in which the leaf will be formed 
in the coming spring, rather than parts of a leaf in a rudimentary 
condition. The central growing point (Fig. 60) is composed of 
cellular tissue possessing special powers of vitality and growth, 
and closely connected with the pith of the stem. From this point 
Fig. 71.—Budding or cushion grafting. 
