SEPTEMBER, 1906 
trees. The stock is split by a chisel and a 
wedge-shaped cion is inserted on the margin. 
PROPAGATING BY BUDS 
Budding is the most common method of 
securing new plants of apple, pear, cherry, 
peach, plum, ‘orange, lemon,**pomelo, per- 
simmon, and many other» fruits; also to 
change young trees of undesirable varieties 
of fruits into more favored sorts. 
Seedling stocks must first be secured. ; 
These are usually taken up and stored at the 
end of their first season, and are set out again 
the following spring about six inches apart 
in the row. They are ready to bud late that 
summer. Peach stocks, however, are ready 
to bud in September, from pits planted the 
same season. Budding can be done any time 
when the bark of the stock peels readily; 
but it is commonly done in late summer or 
early fall, because mature buds can then be 
cut directly from the trees. If done in early 
spring, the buds need to be taken from cions 
that were cut during the previous fall or 
winter. Apples and pears are commonly 
budded in late July or early August. Plums 
and cherries may be budded later, and peaches 
last of all, in early September. A few days 
before budding, remove the leaves from the 
base of the stocks to a height of several inches 
from the ground. This makes the bark 
somewhat firmer to receive the bud. 
WHERE TO GET BUDS 
The buds are cut from ‘bud-sticks,” 
which are mature shoots of the current sea- 
son’s growth, secured from the ends of the 
bearing limbs of valuable trees. Only well- 
developed buds are used; those near the end 
of the shoot are usually discarded. Be care- 
ful to get leaf buds and not fruit buds, if 
propagating stone fruits. 
Each leaf is cut off about one-half inch 
from the bud, thus leaving a handle for it. 
The bud is now cut off with a sharp thin 
knife, which is placed about one-half inch 
below it, and drawn upward parallel to the 
shoot, and to an equal distance on the up- 
per side of the bud stick. A bit of wood 
may be left just beneath the bud, but usually 
it is best to cut thinly, leaving only the in- 
ner and outer bark attached to the bud. 
When many buds are to be inserted, all 
the buds on a stick may be cut at once, 
leaving them hanging by a shred at the top 
until needed; but buds should not be cut 
longer than a few minutes before they are 
needed. 
The buds are inserted into a T-shaped 
cut on the stock, which is preferably made on 
the north side, and as close to the ground as a 
smooth place where the bark peels readily 
can be secured. 
The cross cut is made first with a rocking 
motion of the knife; it should be about one 
and one-half inches long. The longitudinal 
slit below it is then made; it should be about 
two inches long. Both cuts go through the 
bark to the sap wood. The edges of the 
incision are now loosened and rolled back 
slightly with the knife, and the matrix is now 
ready to receive the bud. ‘This is grasped by 
the leaf stock and inserted beneath the bark; 
ANOS GeAC RONSON » MCANGTACZaUN Ts 
Currant cuttings five to eight inches long are made in the 
the point of the knife may be used to put it 
down firmly. This leaves the bud with its 
cut surface in contact with the peeled wood of 
the stock. The cambium layers of the bud 
and the stock unite, as in grafting. 
The bud must be bound in, but no waxing 
is needed. Narrow strips of cloth will an- 
swer, or any soft string, but raffia fibre is 
best. The ligament is wound around the 
stock several times, both above and below 
the bud. Ordinarily these buds will show 
if they have ‘‘taken”’ in one or two weeks; 
if so, they remain green; if not, they 
shrivel. As soon as the bud is seen to be 
united firmly to the stock, the ligature 
should be cut. 
The bud should not begin to grow until 
the following spring. It may be protected 
during the winter, if necessary, by banking 
the stocks with soil. In early spring the 
stock is cut off just above the bud, leaving 
a mere stub containing a single bud of the 
desired variety. In budding citrous fruits 
the stock is partly cut off and is bent over, but 
i 
im 
Budding. 
bark attached, 
fallor early spring from shoots of the previous season 
it is not removed until the bud has grown into 
a strong shoot. See that no suckers from 
the stock dispute with the bud_ shoot. 
Budded trees are ready to plant when one or 
two years old from the bud. 
CHANGING A VARIETY 
Budding is sometimes used for changing 
the variety of established trees. Peaches 
and apricots, which are not grafted readily, 
are very commonly worked over by budding. 
This method is also employed advantageously 
with apples, pears, plums, cherries, oranges, 
lemons and most other common tree fruits. 
Buds can be inserted successfully in branches 
two or three years old, or even older on the 
stone fruits, but it is safer to put them on one- 
year-old wood. If the trees are over two or 
three years old, this may necessitate cutting 
the tree back severely, so that buds may be 
inserted low down in the vigorous shoots that 
result. This may be done the same season, 
with new buds, or the following spring, with 
buds from dormant cions. 
Note angle of blade in making cross-cut of the T. The bud taken from the “‘bud stick" has a bit of 
After being slipped into he stock it is tied firmly with string, raffia, or basswood fibre 
