THE CULTIVATOR. 
211 
BUDDING. 
ding process is performed. It is also preferable to bud 
when the weather is cloudy, but not wet. Twigs for 
budding may be preserved for many days, with care. 
They should be immediately divested of their leaves, 
but not wholly of their leaf-stocks, or petioles, to pre¬ 
vent the exhaustion of moisture, and may then be wrapped 
in fresh grass, or with their butt ends preserved in mois¬ 
ture. 
The effect of propagating choice fruit about a farmer’s 
premises, is, figuratively, to grow the rose where only 
grew the thorn, and literally to provide for one’s family 
and friends, some of the choicest luxuries of life; and 
these luxuries far surpass those of a like kind which are 
purchased with money, because upon one’s own trees, 
they may be permitted to attain their highest perfection, 
and because they are rendered more endearing by the 
personal care and labor which we bestow on their culture. 
Budding has several advantages over grafting. It 
is more readily performed, with fewer implements, 
and with greater success; it does not injure the 
stock if unsuccessful, and the operation may be twice 
or thrice repeated the same year, as the season for 
its performance is protracted, for some one or other 
of the varieties, for about three months. Although 
July and Angust constitute the ordinary season for bud¬ 
ding, the plum and the cherry may often be budded in 
the latter part of June, and the peach, apricot, and nec¬ 
tarine, as late as the middle of September. Any one 
may readily acquire the art under the directions we are 
about to give. 
The first consideration is to provide stocks, if this 
provision has not been already made. Seeds may be col¬ 
lected the coming season by almost every family. Those 
of stone fruit may be mixed with earth or deposited in a 
hole in the garden, and in the autumn buried superficial¬ 
ly to expose them to the expanding influence of the frost; 
and in the spring, those of the peach and plum that have 
not burst their shell, should be cracked and the whole 
thrown into a well prepared bed. Cherries may be 
sown immediately after they are taken from the fruit, 
and the apple, pear and quince in the autumn or spring. 
All kinds will generally grow the first season. If trans¬ 
planted in June and well treated, the peach will gene¬ 
rally do to bud in August or September following, and 
the others in two or three years, if put into nursery 
rows, and well taken care of. The rule applies to 
plants as animals, the better condition they are kept in 
while young, the more profitable they will become at 
maturity. No one will regret the trifling labor and at¬ 
tention which he has bestowed on a little plantation of 
this kind, after he has begun to realize the fruits from it. 
A bud is an organized plant in embryo, with roots, 
branches and foliage, and like a seed, possesses individual 
vitality, capable of development and the reproduction of 
its species. The process of budding is the transferring 
this embryo plant to another tree which must be of the 
same genus if not of the same species. The apricot 
and nectarine may be and generally are budded on the 
peach; the plum and the peach are budded on each other, 
and the apple and pear may be worked on the wild 
crab and hawthorn—and the former is put on quince to 
produce dwarf trees. To render the transfer or budding 
successful, three things are requisite. 1. That the bud 
be in a proper condition to transfer. 2. That the stock 
be in a condition to receive and nourish it; and 3. That the 
transfer be skillfully made. The bud ought to be ma¬ 
tured, of full growth, and yet not so hard as to cause in¬ 
jury in separating it from its parent. The stock must 
peel freely, as this is necessary for the insertion of the bud, 
and indicates the presence of what is termed the cam¬ 
bium, which is the soft, partially formed woody matter 
which underlays the bark, which ripens into indura¬ 
ted wood—is the source of nourishment to the bud, 
and is the bond of union between the bud and the 
stock. The operator must use caution that he does not 
injure either the bud, the bark, nor the cambium, as all 
these exercise important offices in effecting the union; 
and he must withal take care to apply his ligatures pro¬ 
perly. It will be seen from these remarks, that both 
the stock and the graft should be in a state of active 
growth, and the more vigorous the better, when the bud- 
The only implement necessary is the budding-knife, 
and the only preparation some bass-matting, or in¬ 
ner bark of the bass-wood or linden. We shall here 
describe only the common mode, which we take from 
the Encyclopedia of Gardening. 
Shield-budding , or T budding, is thus performed— 
Fix on a smooth part of the side of the stock, rather 
from than towards the sun, and of a height depending, 
as in grafting, on whether divarf, half, or whole 
standard trees are desired; then with the budding-knife, 
make a horizontal cut across the rind, quite through to 
the firm wood; from the middle of this transverse cut, 
make a slit dowmvard, perpendicular, an inch or more 
long, going also quite through to the wood. This done, 
proceed with all expedition to take off a bud; holding 
the cutting or scion in one hand, with the thickest end out¬ 
ward, and with the knife in the other hand, enter it about 
half an inch or more belOAv a bud, cutting nearly half 
way into the wood of the shoot, continuing it with one 
clear slanting cut, about half an inch or more above the 
bud, so deep as to take a part of the wood along with it, 
it, the whole about an inch and a half long; (a.) 
then directly with the thumb and finger or point of the 
knife, clip off the woody part remaining to the bud; 
which done, observe whether the eye or germ of the 
bud remains perfect; if not, and a little hole appears in 
that part, it is imperfect, or as gardeners express it, the 
bud has lost its root, and another must be procured. This 
done, placing the back part of the bud or shield between 
your lips, expeditiously with the flat haft of the knife 
separate the bark of the stock on each side of the per¬ 
pendicular cut, clear to the wood, (c.) for the admission 
of the bud, which directly slip down, close between the 
wood and the bark, to the bottom of the slit, ( d .) The 
next operation is to cut off the top part of the shield (b) 
even with the horizontal first made cut, in order to let it 
completely into its place, and to join exactly the upper 
edge of the shield with the transverse cut, that the de¬ 
scending sap may immediately enter the bark of the 
shield, and protrude granulated matter between it and the 
wood, so as to effect a living union. The parts are now 
to be immediately bound round with a ligament of fresh 
bass, (e) previously soaked in water to render it pliable 
and tough, beginning a little below the bottom of the 
perpendicular slit, proceeding upward closely round 
every part, except just round the eye of the bud, and 
continue it a little above the horizontal cut; not too tight, 
but just sufficient to keep the whole close, and exclude 
the air, sun and wet. 
Future treatment .—In a fortnight at fartherest after 
budding, such as have adhered may be known by their 
fresh appearance at the eye; and in three weeks all those 
which have succeeded well will be firmly united with 
the stock, and the parts being somewhat SAvelled in some 
species, the bandage must be loosened, and a week or 
two aterwards finally removed. The shield and bud 
now swell in common with the other parts of the stock, 
and nothing more requires to be done till spring, when 
just before the rising of the sap, they are to be headed 
down close to the bud, by an oblique cut terminating 
about an eighth or a quarter of an inch above the shield. 
In some cases, however, as in grafting, a few inches of 
the stock is left for the first season, and the young shoot 
tied to it to prevent injury from the winds. 
To remove ink spots.— Spots made by black writing 
ink, on the pages of a book, may be removed by wash¬ 
ing them with a solution of oxalic acid in w r ater. The 
spot must be afterwards washed with clear water. In 
this way the writer has easily removed fresh ink and left 
tile page white, and old spots have been nearly obliterated. 
