1884.] 
AMEEIOAN AGRIOIJLTURIST. 
255 
Common lumber is used throughout, the best of 
the lot being selected for the roof boards. A door 
is provided at each end. The trough is located at 
the front of the building, and the spout empties 
into this at a convenient hight from the ground. 
Nesting places are in the rear of the enclosure, and 
the whulehas a tight floor upon which corn may be 
fed without waste. If it becomes necessary to 
change the pasture, this building can be easily 
taken down and removed. It is a good plan to 
have two small pastures for calves and pigs, pro¬ 
vided with shelters of this description. The ani¬ 
mals can then be changed without the tearing down 
and erecting of shelters. Calves need shelter fully as 
much as the pigs, and about the same plan will an¬ 
swer for both. W. D. Bovnton. 
Budding Forest Trees, 
X. s. rULLER. 
The propagation of woody plants by the process 
known as budding, consists in taking from one tree 
or shrub, a bud and transferring it to another. 
The plant upon which the bud is placed is called 
the stock. The limits of this operation are not 
very well defined, but for all practical purposes I 
may say that it is limited to the members of the 
same genus, or closely allied plants; that is, oaks 
may be budded on oaks, chestnut on chestnut, and 
generally the nearer related the species, the more 
successful the operation. But like all other rules 
pertaining to the propagation of plants, there are 
exceptions, and occasionally we may find that the 
wood of two species belonging to the same genus, 
cannot be made to unite and form what is termed 
a union. There is always a preference in stocks 
belonging to the same genus, and the propagator 
seeks the best for his purpose. I may say, how¬ 
ever, that as a rule, the weak and feeble growing 
should always be placed upon the strong growing, 
if rapid growth and long life is the object in view. 
-Budding is usually performed in summer, soon 
after the buds or a portion of them are fully devel¬ 
oped on the young wood of the present season’s 
growth. The stock into which the buds are to be 
inserted must be in a similar condition, although 
the stem or branch at the point of j unction may be 
more than one year old, but in no case must the 
bark be so thick and rigid, that it cannot be readily 
separated from the wood beneath, because the bud ! 
is to be inserted under the bark of the stock, and '• 
unless this can be done, the operation will fail. We ' 
have to depend upon the assimilated or true sap to I 
form a union between the bud and the stock, the j 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 
same as we do on layers and cuttings to produce 
roots, for all the operations are analogous, only in 
budding, the alburnous matter forms a union with 
the same material in the stock, while- in the layer 
and cutting, it is emitted in the form of roots. 
The proper time for budding trees must, of 
course, vary with the latitude, season, and kind of 
trees to be propagated, as some come forward ear¬ 
lier than others, but, as a rule, it may be performed 
as early in the season as good plump buds can be 
found at the axils of the leaves in shoots of the 
present season’s growth. The upper and immature i 
ones can, of course, be discarded, if it is necessary j 
to commence budding before all are in fit condition j 
to use. In fig. 1, a, we have a bud which is to be 
transferred to a stock; a knife is inserted about 
one inch below it and passed upward, aud brought 
out about a half inch above, cutting out a piece of 
bark with a thick 
slice of wood of a 
form shown by 
the circular line 
in the figure. We 
now make a cut 
across the stock, 
cutting just 
through the bark, 
and another lon¬ 
gitudinally down¬ 
ward, as shown in 
fig. 2, then insert 
the lower end of 
the bark contain¬ 
ing the bud, under 
the bark of the 
stock at the point 
where the in¬ 
cisions meet, and 
press it down to 
its place. If the 
bark of the stock 
is firm, and does 
not part easily to 
admit the bud, 
the edges must 
be lifted so as to 
allow the bud to 
pass under it 
freely. If the 
piece of bark con¬ 
taining the bud 
does not pass 
completely un- —taktng off the bud. 
der, then cut it 
oil at the upper end even with the cross-cut in the 
stock, so that it will fit in smoothly. In fig. 3 a bud is 
shown, taken out after the upper end has beeii cut 
off, as directed, and on this is also shown a portion 
of a leaf-stalk, usually left attached for conven¬ 
ience in handling the bud, as well as to protect it 
from injury. After the bud is inserted, it is secured 
injiplace by a ligature, which may be of bass bark, 
a strip of thin cloth, woollen yarn, or any similar 
material that will hold the bud aud bark in place, 
until a union is formed. The point of the bud and 
leaf-stalk attached should, of course, be left ex¬ 
posed. The stock into which a bud is inserted 
should not, as a rule, be over an inch in diameter 
or less than a half inch, although much larger and 
smaller are often used. After the bud has firmly 
united with the stock—which will usually be in 
two or three weeks—the ligature should be loosened 
or removed entirely. The bud is not expected to 
push into growth until the following season, at 
which time the stock above the bud should be cut 
away and the bud allowed to grow undisturbed. 
If sprouts appear on the stock they must be re¬ 
moved, in order that all the strength may go into 
the bud. The horizontal incision in the stock is 
sometimes made below or at the bottom of the per¬ 
pendicular one, and the bud thrust under the bark, 
but upward, or the reverse of the more usual 
method, this permits the downward flow of the sap 
to reach the bud in a more direct course than when 
the cross-cut is made above it. It is not a conven¬ 
ient method, but is sometimes desirable when the 
flow of sap is rather sluggish late in the season. 
When a bud is taken from the shoot in the usual 
way, there is a small slice of wood remaining under 
the eye, which, in budding some kinds of plants, it 
may be desirable to remove, although it is an al¬ 
most universal practice in this country to allow 
this wood to remain, and doubtless in a majority 
of cases, it is best to do so ; but there are instances 
where a more permanent union will be secured if it 
is removed. With kinds of trees like the magnolias, 
horse-chesnuts, and common sweet chestnut, that 
have a rather thick bark on the young shoots, bet¬ 
ter success will be attained by the removal of the 
wood from the bud. When this is to be done, the 
shoots used must be in a condition to allow the 
bark to peel readily from the wood, without tear¬ 
ing or breaking the fibers. Hold the branch in the 
left hand, with the smaller end towards you ; insert 
the knife-blade about one inch below the bud, cut¬ 
ting a little deeper than you would if the wood were 
to be left in, pass the knife under and above the 
bud, some three-quarters of an inch, but not out to 
the surface; withdraw the blade, and cut across 
through the bark only about half an inch above the 
bud, then with finger and thumb lift up the bark, 
at the same time press it gently forward, and you 
will remove the bark and bud (fig. 4) a, without in¬ 
juring it, leaving the piece of wood b adhering to 
the branch. This is a much better and more scien¬ 
tific method of removing the wood than to pick it 
out with the point of a knife, or to remove with a 
goose-quill as sometimes recommended. This con¬ 
cave piece of bark, with the bud attached, will fit 
the convex surface of the stock very closely, and 
on large stocks, and with buds from large shoots, 
taking out the wool is often advisable. 
Another style of budding called the annular, and 
represented in fig. 5 may be practised in summer 
on small shoots of the season’s growth, or in spring, 
so soon as the bark will peel readily from stock 
and cion. It consists in taking a ring of bark with 
bud attached fi-om one tree, and after a similar 
ring is removed from the stock, the former is fitted 
into its place. This ring of bark may be an >nch 
wide and fitted to stocks from the size shown up 
to an inch or more in diameter. It is always best 
to have the ring of bark wide enough to admit of 
placing ligatures around the stock above aud belov/ 
the bud, in order to hold it in place. When pei-j 
formed in spring, it is best to use waxed strips of 
cloth, to cover the wound and exclude the air, but 
late in summer and with bark from shoots of the 
present season, strips of bark such as used for ordi¬ 
nary budding, will answer 
for ligatures. In this style 
of budding, the branch 
from which the ring of 
bark is taken, should be 
nearly the same size as 
that of the stock to which 
it is affixed. In perform¬ 
ing these operations an 
implement called a bud- 
ding-knife is required, and 
they are made of various 
sizes and patterns, and are 
usually to be obtained at 
almost any seed store. 
The imported budding 
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 Fig. 5. annular 
under it. Many gardeners budding. 
and nurserymen still use these old forms of budding 
knives, but they are clumsy affairs, and not adapted 
for rapid work. Any pocket knife with the blade 
rounded, and made thin and smooth, will answer. 
Tobacco Stems foe Currant Worms.— Mr. A. 
P. Kinney, Jamaica Plains, Mass., ivrites us as fol¬ 
lows: “ In 1881 I came to this place, and found 
twenty-eight large currant bushes, that were in a 
very bad condition on account of the currant 
worms. The neighbors said that tor eight years 
the fruit amounted to nothing, the leaves being 
destroyed every year. In the spring of 1882, to¬ 
bacco stems were applied as a mulch, at the rate of 
ten pounds to each bush, and a handful scattered 
through the branches. The foliage was not troubled 
by the worms. In 1883 only five pounds of tobaceo 
stems were used per bush, and the leaves were not 
destroyed. This year I shall use only half the last 
amount, and believe it will be sufficient.”—Any 
currant grower who can readily get tobaceo stems, 
should try this remedy for currant worms. 
