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Budding is done as follows, as soon as the growth on both sweet 

 AND sorR Obanges are in the right condition. 



' Cut ODe of theyotmg shoots from the sweet tree quite close to the 

 old wood, and tben with a very sharp knife cut off a piece of the bark 

 and weed, about an inch and a quarter long, with a bud in the centre, 

 as shown in the illustration (Fig. 1). If a leaf is growing with the 

 bud, cut it off leaving the stalk attached to the bark as shown in the 

 illustration (Fig. 1) : never break or pull it off. 



The buds at the very base of the shoot on the round wood are the 

 the best so long as they are properly developed and there is the re- 

 quisite length of bark attached ; whether a leaf is growing on the 

 joint, or not, does not matter in the least, except that it is so much 

 more convenient to be able to hold on to the leaf stalk when pushing 

 up the bud. 



Make a horizontal cut about a third of the way round one of the 

 shoots of the sour orange tree near the bottom, and a perpendicular 

 cut to form the letter T inverted (as shown in Fig. 2). Make the cuts 

 BO that the bottom of the perpendicular cut is as close to the bottom 

 of the shoot as possible. The cuts should go clean through the bark, 

 but care must be taken not to cut the wood. Take the sweet orange 

 *' bud," that is, the little piece of sweet orange wood with the bud on 

 it, insert the point into the bottom of the inverted T cut — ( j^) and gently 

 push it up under the bark until the lower end of the ''bud'' is level 

 with the horizontal cut of the inverted T (drawing). 



Care must be taken in all the operations that neither the bark con- 

 taining the bud, nor the bark of the sour shoots is injured, or the 

 operation will probably be a failure. 



When the bud is in its proper place at the bottom of the inverted T 

 cut, it must be tied firmly to make it stick close to the wood of the 

 shoot, tying it rather tighter than can be borne on one's finger, and 

 also to prevent the bai k of the sour shoot from shrivelling and turning 

 back, leaving the bud to dry up. Knitting wool, or other soft material 

 may be used, but Eaphia or budding tape is preferable. The follow- 

 ing recipe for making budding tape has been found useful : — 



To every pound of bees-wax, add a lump of rosin the size of an egg, 

 and ] -J table- spoon fulls of raw linseed oil. Boil and then dip the tape in. 



Take care to cover the whole of the w^ood on which the T cut has 

 been made, and at the same time not to cover the bud. In wet weather 

 the bud should be wholly covered by the tying material, but the tying 

 should be so done as to allow of the partial removal at the end of eight 

 days to allow the bud to " look out," and at the same time be kept 

 tightly tied to prevent turning back of the bark of the stock. 



It is necessary that the trees be inspected every tw^o weeks after 

 budding to be sure that the wood has not swollen so as to tighten the 

 tying material end hinder the flow of the sap. If the shoots swell 

 and cause cutting, the "ties" must be loosened and carefully retied 

 so as not to cut. It must be seen too that the string be renewed if it 

 breaks, for if this should happen, the bark of the shoot will turn back, 

 and the bud will die. 



If the bud keeps green for two weeks the shoot on which the bud is 

 placed should be cut back a third of its length. When the bud has 



