QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



575 



trees will readily separate from the wood. When this 

 can be done, buds may be inserted under the bark and 

 upon the sap-wood, where they will unite with the tree 

 and yet preserve their identity and 

 characteristics. The operation may 

 be performed at any time when the 

 bark lifts freely, provided buds 

 sufficiently mature can be obtained. 

 But the time of most certain success 

 is when the summer growth is about 

 to cease and the flow of sap will be 

 less abundant. 

 Upon cutting the 

 scion from which 

 the buds are to be 

 taken, the leaves 

 should at once be 

 cut, leaving about 

 a quarter of an 

 inch of the foot-stalk of the leaf, which will be long 

 enough to hold the bud. After the foliage is removed, 

 these scions may be kept several days without injury, if 

 wrapped in damp cloth or in moss. With a keen, thin 

 blade the bud is cut from the scion, as seen in fig. i. 

 The length of the cut varies, but in general is about 

 half an inch above the bud, and slightly longer below. 

 As little wood as is possible should be cut with the bud. 

 Fig. 2 shows the perpendicular and horizontal slits 

 through the bark of the stock, and fig. 3 shows the lips 

 of the bark slightly raised by the thin hilt of the bud- 

 ding knife. In fig. 4 the bud is seen slipped into its 

 place, the bark lapping smoothly over it. It is now 

 necessary to bind the bud so firmly that the air and rain 

 , will be excluded, as may be seen in fig. 5. Soft and 

 moistened strings from bass-mats have been used for 

 this purpose. A grass called raffia is coming into use as 

 an excellent material for tying. Some varieties of trees 

 have an excessive flow of sap, and the buds are liable to 

 be "drowned out," as it is termed. In such cases, make 

 the horizontal slit at the bottom of the perpendicular 

 incision, and insert the bud upward. This latter 

 method, namely, of inverting the cross (thus, _|_) 's I 

 practiced with maples and other ornamental trees, 

 but is not required for fruits. The conditions of suc- 

 cess are : vigorous stocks which peel freely ; suffi- 

 ciently mature buds ; a smooth, thin cut of the bud, 

 with but little wood adhering ; no roughing of the 

 cambium under the bark ; a good fit of the bud ; no 

 delay in setting it, and an even binding of the bark so 

 as to exclude all air. In about ten days or a fort- 

 night after this work is done, if the stocks are vig- 

 orous, the strings will begin to bind, and must be 

 loosened or cut. In early spring, the stock is cut 

 away a few inches above the bud, and this projecting ' 

 stem serves as a support to which the young shoot 

 may be tied. In July the shoot will be strong enough 

 for self-support, and the stub should be cut away close 

 down to the bud, so that the wound may close over. 

 Pear stocks are liable to leaf -blight early in August, and 



therefore require to be budded before growth stops. 

 Peaches, on the other hand, are in active growth in Sep- 

 tember, and work upon them may be delayed well into 

 August. 



3041. Bulbs after Blooming. — If narcissus or other 

 bulbs must be taken up before they have ripened, the 

 best waj' is to heel them in in a shady place, and give them 

 a chance to mature. Of course, the leaves must be left 

 on. 



3043. Keeping Dahlia Roots. — The dahlia tubers can 

 be stored like Irish potatoes, and usually keep as well. 

 Why the varieties named did not keep well we cannot 

 tell from the data given. If they rotted, they must have 

 been kept too damp ; if they shriveled, they must have 

 been kept too dry. 



3045. Soil for Carnations. — Your plants could not be 

 expected to do so well in the soil in which last winter's 

 carnation crop was grown as in a fresh soil. Florists 

 are more particular to have their carnation soil fresh and 

 suitable than they are about the soil for almost any 

 other winter-flowering plant. One reason for this is that 

 carnation-plants seem disposed, under some circumstan- 

 ces, to rot away at the ground, and a fresh soil is sup- 

 posed, in measurable degree, to be a safeguard against 

 this. 



3046. Book about Tulips. — You will find much infor- 

 mation on tulip-culture in Henderson's Bulb Culture, 

 price 25 cents; and also in his Practical Floriculture. 



3047. Poplar Bolleana.— All poplars are easily prop- 

 agated from seed, suckers, or cuttings from branches or 

 roots. The usual mode of propagating varieties is by 

 cuttings from one and two-year-old wood, planted in 

 spring or fall ; or by budding on stocks of thrifty-grow- 

 ing varieties. 



3049. Sarracenias in Baskets.— Native pitcher-plants 

 are found in our swamps and bogs, and the soil found 

 there, consisting of peat and livmg sphagnum, probably 

 suits them best. "When growing," says B. S. Williams, 

 in his Stove and Greenhouse Ornamental-Leaved Plants 



Fgi. 3. Fig. 

 Budding Fruit-Trees, 



"they enjoy a top-dressing of rich, rotten manure The 

 pots (or baskets) should be thoroughly drained. We 

 have usually grown them with some moss between the 



