PROPAGATION BY BUDDING. 



341 



Preliminary process. — The state of the bark, 

 both in the bud and in the stock, must be at- 

 tended to, as the bark in both cases must sepa- 

 rate freely from the wood beneath ; for if either 

 be unfit in this respect, there will be little chance 

 of success in the operation. This is best ascer- 

 tained by making trial incisions, and if both are 

 found in a proper state, operations should be at 

 once commenced. If the bark do not rise freely, 

 the process should be delayed for a few days ; 

 and this state will often be accelerated if copious 

 supplies of water be given at the roots, more 

 especially in hot dry weather. The buds are 

 then to be cut from the parent tree, not indi- 

 vidually, but the shoots of the current year 

 on which they are growing are to be removed, 

 their leaves cut off, leaving a part of the leaf- 

 stalk to each, to serve as a handle in insert- 

 ing the bud, as well as to act as a protection 

 to it. The reason for cutting off the leaves is 

 to prevent the loss of sap by evaporation ; and 

 branches so treated may be sent to a great dis- 

 tance without injury to the vitality of the buds, 

 if they are carefully packed in an air-tight case. 

 While the operation of making the incision for 

 the bud in the stem of the stock is going on, 

 the cuttings should be placed handy, kept under 

 shade, and with their lower ends in a pan of 

 water. As each incision is made a bud is cut 

 from the shoot, and when prepared, is inserted 

 as quickly as possible, and fixed by coiling a 

 strand of fresh matting, &c. around the bud and 

 stock — which matting should be kept in a 

 moist state, and handy to the operator. Such 

 arrangements are necessary in most sorts of 

 budding. 



Shield-budding, in one or other of its modifi- 

 cations, is that most generally practised in Bri- 

 tain, and, with flute-budding, may be said to 

 embrace all the modes of the operation really 

 useful. 



Shield-budding in spring is much practised by 

 the Continental cultivators, and is found expe- 

 dient at other seasons, in the case of roses, 

 camellias, and many other flowering plants. For 



deciduous trees like the 

 Fig. 113. Fig. 114. apple and pear> the budg 



are selected in autumn, 

 and kept during winter 

 attached to the shoots they 

 are produced on, by placing 

 their ends in the ground, 

 as is usually done in the 

 case of scions for grafting. 

 In spring, when the sap is 

 up in the stock, the buds 

 are taken from the cuttings, 

 and inserted in the fol- 

 lowing manner : A trans- 

 verse cut is made by the 

 common or the French 

 budding -knife, figs. 113, 

 114, in the shoot containing 

 the bud, a little below an 

 eye ; and this transverse 

 cut is met by a longer in- 

 cision downwards, com- 

 commo* w» munch mencing a little above the 

 budding-knives, eye, taking great care that 

 VOL. II. 



Fig. 115. 



a portion of the wood is removed with the bark 

 in which the bud is situated. The bark of the 

 stock is then cut in manner resembling an invert- 

 ed T; the greatest care should, however, be taken 

 that the edges of both the cuts in the stock and 

 bud be cut clean, so that they shall, when brought 

 together, form a speedy 

 and uniform union. In the 

 case of the rose, the stock 

 should be pruned down 

 about eight days after the 

 bud is inserted to the 

 shoot above it on the oppo- 

 site side of the stock, which 

 shoot should be shortened 

 by being pinched back to 

 two or three eyes, remov- 

 ing at the same time all the 

 side shoots as they are 

 produced; and when the 

 shoot formed from the bud 

 has extended to its fifth 

 leaf, the point should be 

 pinched off, which will 

 cause it to branch out, 

 and, in all probability, 

 induce it to flower in 

 September of the same 

 year. The rose is also 

 budded in spring, even 

 before the sap rises in 

 the stock, in the following 

 manner : A niche is cut 

 out of the stock, say an 

 inch or so in length, as in 

 fig. 116. A bud is taken of 

 the same size and form, re- 

 taining a small portion of 

 the wood; the bud is then nicely fitted to the 

 niche, and secured by coiling a strand of soft 

 matting round it. In 

 Fig. 116. the same manner the 



camellia, orange, and 

 rhododendron may be 

 budded, only in their 

 cases the entire leaf 

 should be left attached 

 to the bud. A modifi- 

 cation of this manner 

 is often resorted to in 

 the case of the latter 

 plants — namely, by 

 taking a bud, a, with a 

 portion of the wood 

 attached to it, and cut- 

 ting out a similar piece 

 from the stock, 6, and 

 substituting the one for 

 the other. 



In the case of some very delicate plants, cot- 

 ton wool or very soft moss is placed round the 

 bud, and secured by passing a strong thread 

 round it, to keep it firmly in its place. In ordi- 

 nary cases, however, the expert budder uses 

 nothing but fine strands of bast matting, and 

 the success as well as the expedition with which 

 this nice operation is performed in our British 

 nurseries is truly wonderful. 



The rationale of budding is thus clearly 



2 x 



SHT ELD-BUDDING THE 

 ROSE. 



SHIELD- BUDDING THE 

 CAMELLIA. 



