PEOPAGATION. 



for this is sometimes done where the natural 

 buds do not push to form shoots at places where 

 these are necessary. The main principle of bud- 

 ding is the same as in grafting. The union is 

 effected by means of the organizable matter, or 

 cambium, which exists between the alburnum 

 and inner bark; and the success of the opera- 

 tion depends upon the abundance of that matter 

 being such as to permit of the bark being easily 

 raised from the wood. When both the stock, 

 and the tree from which the bud is taken, are 

 in that condition, the union is most readily 

 effected. There are periods when the flow of 

 sap is arrested, and then the bark adheres 

 firmly to the wood, and when that is the case 

 budding should not be attempted. Calm but 

 warm weather is the most favourable; exces- 

 sively dry weather with strong sun is apt to 

 kill the buds, and wet weather proves injurious 

 to them, unless they can be protected from rain ; 

 for, when the latter gets into the wound, it 

 decomposes the sap, and organization cannot 

 proceed so as to form a union. 



Buds are generally inserted in July or August, 

 in which case they remain dormant, or at least 

 do not usually push into shoots, till the ensuing 

 spring. The modes of performing the operation 

 are various; the principal are: — Shield-budding 

 or T-budding, inverted T-budding, square shield- 

 budding, flute-budding or tube-budding, and 

 annular or ring budding. 



Shield-budding, or T-budding, is represented in 

 fig. 307, where A represents the stock, and B B 

 the bud in different positions. In operating, take 

 a shoot from the tree from which buds are to be 

 worked, and imme- 

 diately cut off the 

 leaves at half the 

 length of the pe- 

 tioles. Make a 

 transverse incision 

 a in the stock A, and 

 from the middle of 

 this make a longi- 

 tudinal one, a b. A 

 bud should next be 

 removed from the 

 shoot, by taking the 

 latter in the left 

 hand and entering 

 the knife about 

 less according to the size of the stock and of the 

 shoot; with a clean sloping cut pass the knife 

 upwards and inwards till under the bud, and then 

 slope outwards so that the eye may be nearly in 

 the middle of the piece or shield thus detached, 



Shield-budding. 



or rather nearer its upper end. In doing this, 

 the knife will necessarily cut off a portion of 

 the wood along with the bud, this is usually 

 removed; to do so, turn the cut surface up- 

 wards, holding the piece between the forefinger 

 and the thumb of the left hand, enter the point 

 of the knife between the inner bark and upper 

 extremity of the wood at c, raise this extremity 

 a little, so that it can be laid hold of between 

 the point of the knife and the edge of the nail 

 of the thumb, and then, with a sort of twitch, 

 remove the wood. When this is done, see that 

 along with the wood, the base, root, or core of 

 the bud, as it is variously termed, is not also 

 removed. If this come along with the wood, 

 leaving a hole at d, the bud is not likely to suc- 

 ceed, and another bud should be taken off more 

 shallow, so that the portion of wood to be 

 removed may be very thin. The base of the 

 bud at d is greenish and of a pulpy herbaceous 

 nature; it is, in fact, the commencement of the 

 medullary sheath, the upper extremity of which 

 is terminated by the growing -point. If the 

 wood comes clean out, with the exception of 

 a few slight woody fibres connected with the 

 lower part of the base of the bud, these need not 

 be removed, the tissue on the inner bark being 

 liable to be bruised. 



The bud is now ready for insertion. With the 

 ivory handle of the budding-knife, raise the bark 

 of the stock A at each side of the incision a b, 

 commencing at the corners immediately below the 

 cross cut at a. In raising the bark, the handle 

 of the knife should never touch the portion of 

 cambium lying on the alburnum, but, to avoid 

 doing so, should be slipped along, pressing against 

 the inner bark. In short, the handle of the knife 

 must not be used like a wedge forced in between 

 the wood and bark of the stock. Mr. Knight 

 frequently dispensed with the knife-handle ; in 

 raising the bark he merely lifted it between the 

 blade of the knife and edge of the thumb. When 

 the bark is sufficiently raised to admit the bud, 

 take the latter by the petiole and gently introduce 

 it with the assistance of the ivory handle. Let 

 the part e of the shield be at the cross cut a of 

 the stock, and, keeping the bud steady with the 

 thumb of the left hand, cut off the top of the 

 shield, so that it may fit closely to the upper edge 

 of the cut at a. The bud or shield must not be 

 forced down like a wedge; on the contrary, it 

 should be introduced so as to touch the cambium 

 of the stock as little as possible, till its inner bark, 

 and the cambium adhering to it, can be directly 

 applied to that of the stock; these coalescing, 

 organization proceeds, and, circumstances prov- 



