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GARDENING AS A SCIENCE. 
No. VII. — BUDDING. 
If the theory of Mr. James Main could be proved, or received as an all but 
demonstrated fact, — that is, if his view of a vital membrane were established, — much 
of the difficulty which involves the problem of budding would be entirely removed. 
We will examine this problem somewhat minutely. The " vital membrane " or, 
as it was at first termed by its originator, the Indusium, is described as 44 that 
member of the stem whence all new annual growths originate and proceed, and 
that itself is horizontally engrossed from a very thin layer of gelatinous matter to 
a body of wood and liber one eighth of an inch in thickness, more or less, according 
to the health of the tree." 
There is some obscurity in this description, but which we may remove by 
observing, that during the expansion of the bole of a tree and the progress of new 
shoots, the bark of the summer will rise and separate from the sap-wood below it 
with great facility, and discover a moist and juicy surface. This juice, the vestige 
of that substance called cambium, is supposed to be capable of organization, and 
thus to be the source of the annual layers of sap-wood, and of the liber or inner 
bark. This theory, however, must be defective, because it implies a vitality — a 
principle of life inherent in itself. The cambium is purely an extravasation — a fluid 
which 44 disappears every spring after the complete formation of the wood, which 
then adheres firmly to the bark, but it re-appears whenever the plant is again 
called into growth, as at midsummer in those species which shoot twice a-year, 
like roses, peaches," &c. 
The latter part of this quotation is not questioned, and the gardener would do 
well to bear it in mind, as a guide to the theory of budding, which we will endea- 
vour to elucidate ; but of the former part, what will those experienced persons say 
who are accustomed to fell and 4 bark ' the oak for the use of the tanner ? What 
formation has taken place in April, 44 that of the previous year having been com- 
pleted many months before the approach of winter ?" We are but too apt to assert 
incautiously. 
Mr. Main's theory implies the presence of a membrane always existing — 
the source and fountain of vitality, 44 found at all times between the liber and 
the alburnum, slightly adhering to both, but united to neither ; it is a coating 
(he says) of gelatinous matter, from which the new growths of wood and liber of 
the next, and all succeeding, years will be produced." 
This inherent, vital organization has, we are aware, been stoutly disputed ; and 
we are not prepared to assert, or positively demonstrate, its existence ; but the 
separate and separable vitality of every individual bud can be proved, and is 
continually evinced during the process and results of budding. 
vol. ix. — no. cm. x 
