APRIL. 
113 
markets. Notwithstanding the very general failure of other fruit last 
year, Apricots were a plentiful crop in the West Riding—so plentiful, 
in fact, that very great quantities could be purchased at eighteen-pence 
the score, of a sample like those, which, in 1855, were worth four 
shillings. I invite any fruit grower in the West Riding to deny these 
facts if he can. 
Now, these facts confirm what I have so often said about fruit trees 
always bearing good crops of fruit after a season’s rest. And here I 
would ask those who advocate “ retarding ” how it happens that 
Apricots should be a good crop last year, when other fruit was a 
complete failure, and particularly as the Apricot is one of the earliest of 
our fruit trees to come into blossom. * 
From the very general failure of the fruit crop last year, we may 
anticipate good crops this season. Should there be a similar failure to 
that of last year, then, indeed, should I think that our “ precarious 
seasons and late spring frosts ” had a great deal to do with the failure 
of the crops ; but if, on the other hand, we have good average crops 
this season, I must still think the views I advanced are right. 
Stourton. M. Saul. 
FRUIT CULTURE.—No. III. 
BY MR. POWELL, ROYAL GARDENS, FROGMORE. 
(Continued from page 88. j 
Although most of our fruit trees may be increased by budding, it is 
a mode of propagation not usually practised, except for those kinds that 
are not easily multiplied in any other way, such as the Peach and 
Apricot; it is, however, preferable to grafting for all the stone fruit. 
The object in budding is the same as grafting, from which it does not 
differ in its effect. Every individual bud is capable of forming a new 
tree, either as a graft with a portion of wood, or as a bud with only a 
small part of the bark attached. 
The operation of budding consists of removing a bud with a portion 
of the rind from the young shoot of one tree and inserting it under the 
bark of another, and is performed after midsummer, from the middle of 
July to the end of August, but the exact time must be regulated 
according to circumstances; the buds must be perfectly formed on the 
young wood and somewhat matured, and the bark its natural colour \ 
and done at a time when the bark of both the stock and buds parts 
easily from the wood, otherwise success would be very uncertain. A 
shady or damp day should also be chosen for the operation. There are 
several forms of budding which it is not necessary to notice here, as the 
common shield budding (fig. 6) is best adapted to our climate, and will 
answer every purpose in the fruit garden. In the first place the 
operator should be provided with a proper knife that is made for the 
purpose, and is termed a budding knife j it is about four inches long and 
the blade is rounded on the edge j the handle is of bone and made thin 
at the end, similar to a paper knife, for the purpose of raising the bark 
VOL. X., NO. cxii. ^ 
