APRIL. 115 
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oif close to the bud. Care should be taken not to allow any suckers 
or shoots from the stock to rob the bud. 
Buds may be inserted with advantage in trained trees, either for the 
purpose of renewing or furnishing naked branches with fruitful shoots, 
as is often the case with Peaches and Nectarines. The bud is inserted 
on the upper side of the branch, and the bandage above the bud should 
be tied more tightly than below, which will have a tendency to check 
the upward flow of sap, and greatly assist the union of the bud. If 
the wound is exposed to the sun, as in the case of wall-trees, a slight 
shading is necessary for a few days after the operation. 
The propagation of fruit trees by cuttings is the common mode of 
multiplying the Gooseberry, Currant, Pig, and Vine, all of which will 
root readily in the open ground. It consists in detaching 
a shoot of the previous season’s growth from the parent 
tree, and when placed in the ground in a favourable 
situation it has the power of forming roots and becomes 
a new and entire tree. 
The proper time for propagating hardy fruit trees is 
the autumn. As soon as the trees have shed their 
foliage, select cuttings of Gooseberries and Currants 
moderately strong, avoiding suckers that are thrown up 
from the root, as they are liable again to throw up 
suckers when formed into a tree. The cuttings should 
be from a foot to fifteen inches in lenorth. Make a clean 
O 
cut immediately below the bottom bud, leave the bottom 
eye (a), and cut out all the rest with the exception of 
two or three at the top; thus the cuttings are prepared 
for planting, see fig. 8. Select a sandy moist soil and 
a shady situation; bed them thickly in rows, and place 
the cuttings two-thirds of their length in the soil, up to 
the dotted line B, pressing the earth firmly round the 
bottom of the cutting. 
The advantage of placing the cutting so deep in the 
soil is that it does not suffer from drought while “ cal¬ 
lusing ; ” and the moisture in the soil will keep the 
cuttings in a condition to supply the buds with food 
till they have made young fibres to draw nourishment 
from the earth. The following autumn the young 
plants should be taken up carefully; shorten the young 
shoots to within two buds, and prune the roots from the 
stem, leaving only those at the base, and plant them 
again in the nursery bed, merely covering the roots. 
This will give the tree about ten inches of stem, which 
will keep the fruit clean and have a neat appearance. 
Figs and Vines are propagated in the open air, in precisely the same 
way as the Currant; but the best mode for Vines is by eyes, when 
artificial heat can be obtained. Select in February well-ripened wood 
of one season’s growth, cut the eyes with about an inch and a-half of 
wood, the bud being in the centre ; place them horizontally in a pot filled 
with light sandy soil, press them down (bud upwards) a little below 
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