Edible Products. 



418 



[May, 1912. 



form an operation will frequently go 

 and bud avocados or other plants with 

 just such a knife, and then wonder 

 why so many buds failed to grow. 

 The wonder is that any could grow 

 at all. Not only should a budding 

 knife made expressly for the pur- 

 pose be used for this work, but it 

 should be absolutely clean from all im- 

 purities and have an edge keen as a 

 razor. A small whetstone and leather 

 strop should be included in the working 

 toolkit, so that the knife can be sharpened 

 as needed. The writer, in his budding 

 work, frequently tests the keenness of 

 the blade on his forearm ; if too dull 

 to smoothly shave the hair the knife is 

 ground or honed before another bud is 

 cut. 



Budding should never be attempted 

 unless there is a good flow of sap, so that 

 the bark separates readily from the 

 wood. Old hard budwood should not 

 be used, for, unlike the citrus, anonaceous 

 fruit and several other plants, the buds 

 of which are sunk into the bark tissue, 

 and from which new buds issue it a 

 sprouting bud is broken off, the buds 

 of the avocado are mostly raised above 

 the bark ; consequently if a bud fails to 

 sprout, it frequently falls off even before 

 the leaf itself has dropped, thus leaving 

 a blind bud incapable of producing any 

 growth whatever. Because of this fea- 

 ture of the avocado and the tendency of 

 the old buds to drop, the use of old bud- 

 wood will always be accompanied by 

 a certain percentage of loss from buds 

 going "blind " even after a perfect union 

 between stock and scion has become 

 established. Another reason for the 

 failure to get the buds to sprout, com- 

 plained of by some propagators is that 

 the buds are cut too small, and that the 

 leaf buds proper are small and poorly 

 developed and unable to start before the 

 rapidly growing callus around the bud 

 smothers it. The importance of the 

 selection of budwood from the current 

 year's growth— sufficiently mature so 

 that it does not snap on bending, carry- 

 ing vigorous and well-developed buds 

 that are not crowded on the budstick, 

 thus allowing the cutting of large buds— 



cannot be too strongly emphasized. 

 Suitable budwood may be " made to 

 order " by manuring the trees heavily 

 with nitrogenous fertilizers and irrigat- 

 ing them a few months before the bud- 

 wood is wanted. 



After the wood has matured as indi- 

 cated, there need be no fear that it is 

 too tender. In fact, the tenderest full- 

 grown buds may be used with success 

 in the hands of a skilled budder. The 

 writer has frequently used the tip of a 

 budstick, inserting it as a "spring bud" 

 with good success. The bud should be 

 inserted as near the ground as possible, 

 for this will save much time later, other- 

 wise consumed in rubbing off adventi- 

 tious buds, and the buds also have a 

 tendency tostait easier when inserted 

 near the ground than when placed higher 

 up on the stock. In countries where 

 light frosts may be expected during the 

 winter, it gives better opportunity to 

 protect the bud by banking the tree 

 with soil than if the bud is inserted far 

 above the ground. 



In making the opening in the stock 

 to receive the bud, make a vertical 

 incision about 35 to 40 millimeters long, 

 at the lower end of which make a hori- 

 zontal incision as shown in Plate 1 (c)/ 

 Then lift the bark by passing the point 

 of the blade under the bark upward 

 from the horizontal incision making a 

 wound suggesting an inverted T. The 

 T bud may also be used, and the bud is 

 then pushed downwards, but the invert- 

 ed T bud has been found to be the more 

 advantages and expeditious method. 

 The bark should be lifted sufficiently so 

 that none but the gentlest pressure is 

 needed to insert the bud in position. 

 Now cut a bud of the size shown on the 

 accompanying plate,* by passing the 

 knife diagonally under the bud, taking 

 care not to cut the bud too thin, and 

 that no tear or break is made in the 

 tissue ; place the bud in position and tie 

 firmly— but not tight enough to strangle 

 —with grafting tape ; begin at the hori- 

 zontal cut and cover the entire bud 

 to prevent its drying out and to prevent 

 * Not reproduced. 



