BUDDIi^G AKD GRAFTING. 



41 



most any seed store. The imported bud- 

 ding knives have usually either a thin, 

 blunt-pointed ivory, or bone handle, or a 

 piece of bone inserted into a horn handle, 

 this being used to lift the bark of the 

 stock, to facilitate the inserting of the 

 bud under it. Many gardeners and 

 nurserymen still use these old forms of 

 budding knives, but they are clumsy 

 alfairs, and not adpated for rapid work. 

 Any small pocket knife with the blade 

 rounded, and made thin and smooth, 

 will answer fully as well for the purpose 

 as the most costly imported ivory- 

 handled knife. I have never seen a 

 knife that I liked better than the one 

 shown full size in figure 9, which I first 

 saw in use at the old Linnaean Nurseries, 

 at Flushing, N". Y., some thirty years 

 ago. Unfortunately, however, these 

 knives are not in the trade, and when 

 wanted have to be made to order. But 

 by purchasing cheap knives at the hard- 

 ware stores, and throwing away the 

 blades, and have new ones put in, such 

 knives do not cost any more, or in fact 

 quite as much, as the rugular trade bud- 

 ding-knife. The rounded end is used 

 for lifting the bark on the stock, and 

 far ro.ore convenient than a knife with 

 an ivory handle, which must be reversed 

 in the hand every time a bud is inserted, 

 and this is a waste of valuable time, be- 

 sides the ivory or bone handles are far 

 more likely to become rough, and scratch 

 the tender cambium layers than a piece of polished steel, 



1 



Fig. 9, 



BUDDIIsG KNIFE. 



