704 
THE RUHAI> NEW-YORKER 
July 20, 
season varies for different localities. In Western 
New York, from July 15 to September 15 is about 
the usual time for carrying on the work. Generally 
pear seedlings make their growth early, and so they 
are usually budded as early in July as the scions 
ripen sufficiently. Cherries come next, about in 
August. Mahaleb stocks on which sour cherries are 
propagated are much easier to handle and less subject 
to blight than the common Mazzards. However, 
sweet cherries should never be grown on Mahaleb 
roots. Apple seedlings should usually receive at¬ 
tention early in the season, but oftentimes they do 
well to be budded in the latter part of August. The 
Myrobalan plum stocks will go often till September 
10, and peach seedlings are best budded in the early 
days of September. Everything depends on the con¬ 
dition of the stock. No expert budder will go into 
a block, unless they are growing well, and the sap 
flowing freely. This is the prime requisite of success. 
However, oftentimes the seedlings start to blight, or 
go backward and ripen up. In that case the longer 
the delay, the fewer will open their bark freely and 
the poorer will be the stand of buds. The weather 
for budding is not an important factor. Some 
growers dislike to bud cherries just before heavy 
rains, but I do not believe it makes any appreciable 
difference. Who can forcast the weather for three 
days anyway ? 
CUTTING THE SCION.—The scion for the opera¬ 
tion must be secured with great care. The current sea¬ 
son’s growth of wood must be used, and it requires 
some experience to tell when the scions are ripe in the 
early part of the season. It is hard to describe just 
how they should appear; they should have their dis¬ 
tinctive color, and firmness of texture in the wood, 
and the “eye” under the leaf stem should have a 
brown shade of color. All scions ripen up as the 
budding season advances, and the budder is able to 
distinguish instinctively “by the running of his knife” 
how far toward the tip of the scion he can use the 
buds, for the unripe ones are green and soft under 
the “eye.” The scions are cut from the trees and the 
leaves taken off with a sharp knife, leaving about 
one-fourth inch of stem over each bud. Never allow 
the leaves to wilt on the scion and never allow the 
scions to dry out after the leaves are removed. With 
the leaves off, they may be wrapped in damp cloths 
or packed in damp sawdust for a few days until ready 
to use, but I prefer scions that have not been cut 
more than a day or so. 
THE BEARING TREES.—Is it best to use scions 
from bearing trees of known quality and productive¬ 
ness or from young trees in the nursery row? First 
let me state that practically all the fruit trees grown 
in the United States are propagated from scions cut 
from young trees in the nurseries. There are a few 
exceptions. Some nurserymen have a small scion 
orchard, and grow what are called “pedigreed trees,” 
but the few grown in this manner are a negligible 
factor in the commercial trade. The truth of the 
matter is that scions from old trees do not produce 
thrifty stock. The buds do not live as well. There 
are more failures. The ones that do survive grow 
up weaklings, and seem to lack vigor from the start. 
Moreover, it has been established beyond question 
that a tree of any 'variety, exceptionally good in some 
particular quality, will not always transmit this 
superiority to its offspring. On the other hand, if 
there is any fungous disease on the bearing trees it 
will very likely be transmitted through the bud to 
the young seedlings and spoil the whole stand. The 
only objection to using scions from young trees is 
that they may not be true to name, that a mixture may 
occur at some time or other and be transmitted. This 
is very apt to happen with peach trees if extreme 
caution is not observed, as they all look so much 
alike; but the standard varieties of apple, pear, plum, 
and cherry can be easily distinguished in the nursery 
row by experienced nurserymen. The progressive and 
reliable growers of the country, therefore, for the 
most part do not see any reason why they should 
abandon the present practice of scion selection. Raf¬ 
fia for tying the buds is a palm fiber imported from 
the East. It comes dried and braided into “pig 
tails” and, when dampened and whipped out, makes 
an ideal string for winding the buds on account of 
its stoutness and flexibility. It may be had from any 
large nursery firms. 
HOW IT IS DONE.—The operation of budding it¬ 
self is simple to understand. The bark of the seedling 
is opened about two inches above the ground with a 
sharp budding knife in the following manner. An 
inverted T-shaped incision is made first by a trans¬ 
verse cut, and then by a vertical one beginning about 
an inch higher up and drawing the knife gently down¬ 
ward to the cross cut. A slight twist of the knife 
will open the bark at the bottom to receive the bud. 
The bud is cut from the scion at once. It should be 
about one inch long, one-fourth inch above the “eye” 
that is under the leaf stem, and three-fourths inch 
below it. Begin at the top to cut and be sure to get 
all the bark but' no wood except a little under the 
“eye.” The bud is then slipped into the seedling with 
the thumb and forefinger, and up far enough so that 
it is caught firmly under the bark at the top, leaving 
none of the lower part outside. It is then wound 
very tight with raffia. The raffia should be cut about 
Scions Pear Seedling. ItalHsi, for tying buds. 
WHAT THE BUDDER, WORKS WITH. Fig. 323. 
18 inches long, depending on the diameter of the 
stock; it should be moist and pliable but not wet. 
The whole wound should be wound up smooth and 
tight, beginning at the bottom, covering everything 
but the “eye.” A single square knot is sufficient to 
hold it from coming loose. The strings are cut in 
about three weeks, and by that time it is easy to tell 
whether the buds are alive or not; 85% alive is con¬ 
sidered a good stand. This manner of budding differs 
somewhat from the practice in vogue in some nurs¬ 
eries. They do what is called “budding down.” The 
only difference, however, is that the bud is cut and the 
opening made in the seedling so that the bud is in¬ 
serted downward instead of upward. In budding this 
way the operator gets down on one knee, and it is 
claimed that he can move along faster and do more 
work than by the other method. 
TAKING IT EASY.—The growers of the Genesee 
Valley in Western New York prefer to sit down to 
it on sacks. An expert budder can easily -insert 2,000 
buds per day, although it requires some years of train¬ 
ing to attain this perfection. Usually two boys and 
a man constitute a gang. A very small boy can clean 
away from the seedlings and make a smooth seat for 
the budder so he can move along on his sack easily. 
a-Buds. b-Scion. c-Opening d-Bud in e-Bud 
made in Seedling. Seedling. when tied. 
METHOD OF BUDDING. Fig. 324. 
A larger boy does the tying. After some training 
he acquires enough speed to keep up and moves along 
indirectly behind the budder, dragging with him a 
box in which the raffia and scions are kept wrapped 
in damp cloths. It has been said that the farmers 
of Western New York are in a particular class by 
themselves, that they have their own peculiar charac¬ 
teristics, and their own independent and fearless way 
of looking at things. Perhaps the nurserymen of the 
Genesee Valley have caught some of this spirit. Any¬ 
way, they all prefer to bud sitting down on sacks so 
they may enjoy the work, even if they cannot bud 
quite so many seedlings. Some claim more live buds 
are obtained in this way. However that may be, ic 
is expected of every budder that he will put up a good 
stand, and it is not unusual under favorable condi¬ 
tions to have over 98 per cent, live buds. A visitor 
to see four or five gangs down on the ground, moving 
along so slowly through the rows on a hot, drowsy 
Summer afternoon, might think it to be trying work 
indeed. On the contrary, it is most interesting. All 
the subjects of the day, including baseball and poli¬ 
tics, are up for discussion by the gangs of men and 
boys as the carving in and tying up of buds goes on. 
The Baldwins and the Spies and the Greenings, the 
Lombards and the Montmorencies are all put in in 
their time, and one of the men would know in a sec¬ 
ond if he got a scion that was wrong. Thus the 
Summer months go by, and the millions of natural 
.Seedlings are made over into varieties of trees that 
some day, somewhere, will yield abundant harvest. 
MARTIN KING, JR. 
THE BUFFALO MARKET SITUATION. 
The June produce markets turned strong here, a 
state of things that quite often happens, and a pretty 
unfavorable commentary it is on the enterprise of 
growers at home. The price of strawberries is as 
high as it was when this fruit came from south of 
the Potomac, and there has been no real drought 
yet to cut the crop off either. As a rule the straw¬ 
berry goes through the hands of both wholesaler and 
retailer before it reaches the consumer here, but it 
does not often pay any freight unless it comes long 
distances, for farmers either drive to the city with 
such crops or get hold of a motor truck directly or 
in combination. The wholesaler charges 10 per cent, 
for handling, in which case the farmer pays no market 
fee, while if he had a stand, that is, a place to back 
up his wagon and sell from it, he would be charged 
for it. He can deliver sold stuff to stores about the 
city or private customers, but if he peddles about the 
streets he must wait till after 3 p. m., and take out 
an annual license besides. All market men as a rule 
complain of poor profits. Once they could get 20 
cents a dozen for eggs that cost them 16, with rents 
and wages low, but now they get about three cents 
piofit on a half more cost, with wages and rents up 
and a stiff city corporation tax added. Still I notice 
that a big concern that has done a rushing business 
for some years up-town has just opened a down-town 
market and stocked it lavishly with everything, from 
strawberries to baked goods and meats. There is an 
advance of a cent on eggs this week, but it may be 
temporary. There have for some time been so much 
cheaper than meats, retailing at about 25 cents 
a dozen with meats often that a pound, that the con¬ 
sumption has been large. Our farmers do quite a 
business in delivering eggs to their customers in town, 
but they charge as a rule fully as much as the dealers 
do, depending on freshness for the demand. It is 
easy to sell in that way if one is willing to do the 
extra work. Men in other business in town who live 
on farms are best situated for such trade. Hay has 
declined a dollar, and is now not quoted above $8 to 
the consumer. It is largely brought in loose by farm¬ 
ers and delivered from the hay market or through 
previous sale to consumers who have a loft for stor¬ 
ing it. In this way the hay industry can be made a 
good thing, for the farmer can take home with him 
a load of manure at little or no cost beyond the 
handling. If he is wise or fortunate enough to get 
manure that is something better than straw and water 
he ought to prosper. Milch cows have gone up lately 
and buyers are advised to hold off unless they can 
attend the Monday sales at East Buffalo and select 
the best offered. Scarcity rather than extra demand 
is said to be the reason for the advance. Prices vary 
widely in the many grades. While hay is rather 
disappointing there is a big promise of all fruits, 
including grapes, except cherries. 
JOHN W. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Senator Crane of Massachusetts wrote one of our 
people that he favors a parcels post bill “which will 
not create too large a deficit in the Post Office De¬ 
partment.” This is what he got back: 
The people of the country would have more respect for 
the anxiety of Congress about a deficit in these matters 
if Congress showed more concern about the deficit pro¬ 
duced by the useless annual distribution of seeds, by the 
retaining of thousands of fraudulent names on the pen¬ 
sion list, and by the free transportation of the flood of 
campaign literature to which every voter is now being 
subjected, and a sample frank of which I enclose. 
That is a matter for “careful consideration.” What 
childish folly it is to talk about the great cost of par¬ 
cels post when all these useless, or worse, expenses 
go on! 
