130 



THE ART OF 



superfluous fruit -buds. 2. To render fruitful a vigorous 

 subject which does not possess fruit-bearing qualities. About 

 the month of August, the fruit-buds of one subject which has 

 too man}' are grafted on another which is deficient in them ; 

 and, in the following year, the buds which have been thus 

 grafted flower and bear fruit much better than if they had 

 remained on the parent-tree. The operation should take 

 place when the sap begins to decline : yet, as we have to do 

 with trees of a certain age, we should take care not to graft 



Grafting with, a simple fruit-bud. 



too late. A very vigorous tree or a gourmand branch is best 

 of all for this kind of grafting. Fructification thus forced upon 

 them will subdue them and bring them to bear fruit of them- 

 selves. "We may thus also have several varieties of fruit on 

 the same tree, which however is perhaps neither an advantage 

 nor the reverse. The scions are taken by preference from 

 those trees which are usually too heavily laden with fruit, and 

 the fruit-buds which are destined to fall at the next pruning 

 will answer exactly for grafting purposes. The scions are cut 

 from the parent-tree just before using them ; their leaves 



