iNOCULATlON, OR BUDDING. 



165 



gardens for the supply of the table, we will give M'Ma- 

 hon's mode of raising it : — 



Procure some seed of the earliest kind, and select a 

 piece of dry, sandj/, and tolerably rich ground, in a warm 

 exposure. After preparing it as for peas, &c. form shallow 

 drilis, about two inches deep, at the distance of six feet 

 from each other; [four feet and a half, or five feet, will an- 

 swer for the smallest sorts ;] drop the seeds therein two feet 

 and a half asunder, and two grains in each place ; strew 

 a little v/ood-ashes in the drills, and cover the seeds as you 

 v/ould peas. As the plants advance in growth, earth them 

 up two or three times. For an early crop, you may plant 

 the seed, in the Middle States, about the first of May, 

 [about the 10th in the Eastern States,] or ten days earlier, 

 should the season prove very favourable. 



This method is exclusively intended for the culture of 

 the small early kinds." 



INOCULATION, or BUDDING.—" The object in 

 budding. is the same as in grafting, and depends on the 

 same principle ; all the difference between a bud and a 

 scion being that a bud is a shoot or scion in embryo. 



" A new application of budding has been made by 

 Knight. It is that of transferring ' a part of the abundant 

 blossom-buds from one tree to the barren branches of oth- 

 ers.' He tried this first on roses, and afterwards on pears 

 and peaches, with much success. 



Advantages of budding. — Budded trees are generally two 

 years later in producing their fruit than grafted ones ; but 

 the advantage of budding is that, where a tree is rare, a 

 new plant can be got from every eye ; whereas by grafting 

 it can only be got from every three or four eyes. I'here are 

 also trees, which propagate much more readily by budding 

 than grafting; and others, as most of the stone fruits, are 

 apt to throw out gum when grafted. When grafting has 

 been omitted, or has failed, in spring, budding comes in 

 as an auxiliary in summer. 



Season of budding. — The operation of common bud- 

 ding is performed any time from the beginning of July to 

 the middle of August ; the criterion being the formation 

 of buds in the axillae of the leaf of the present year. The 

 buds are known to be ready by the shield or portion of 

 bark, to which they are attached, easily parting with the 

 wood. The buds preferred are generally those on the 

 middle of a young shoot, as being neither so apt to run to 

 wood as those at the extremity, nor so apt to lie dormant as 



