64 FRUITS, FLOWERS AND SHRUBS. 



a taper thin piece of hard wood, and thrust the bud 

 gently between the bark and the body of the stock; 

 prepare the bud thus — take a cutting- of this year's 

 growth from a heahhy tree that bears well ; take off 

 the leaves, make a cross cut an inch below the 

 lowest bud or eye, nearly half way through ; place 

 your knife half an inch above the bud, and slit the 

 shoot down to the cross cut, taking out the piece ; 

 separate the wood of the piece from the bark, so 

 that the bud shall remain in the bark. If in sepa- 

 rating, the bud quit the bark and leave a hole, it 

 is useless, and you must proceed to the next bud 

 in like manner — if there be no hole in the bud, 

 insert it under the bark of the stock, as directed 

 ^ above, as smooth as possible, with the eye in the 

 middle — should the bark in which the bud is, be 

 too large for the incision, shorten the bark so as to 

 slip in and lie quite close. The bud being inserted, 

 bind a piece of mat or yarn round the stock and 

 bark, to keep them close above and below the eye, 

 but do not cover it. In about a month, if the bud 

 has united to the stock, the former will appear plump, 

 if not, it will appear decayed — the bandages may 

 now be loosened, that the sap may flow freely. Next 

 spring the buds will shoot forth, and the stocks must 

 tlien be headed down. Apricots, cherries, peaches 

 and nectarines may be budded this month, as the sap 

 is now flowing freely, and the buds will part from the 

 wood readily; later fruit trees must be budded later, 

 taking as a criterion for the time, that the operation 

 must be performed when the bark about the bud will 

 readily part from the wood. 



Plum stocks raised from stones^ and about three 

 vears old, are the best stocks to bud. peaches, plums, 

 noclarines and apricots upon. Stocks raised from ker- 

 nels of pears or quinces, and three or four years old. 

 ure best to bud pears upon. In budding trees, ob- 

 w-or.e. if liiey are for espahers or dwarfs, the bad 



