FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
tXi 
trees, etc., but equal success can be at¬ 
tained by any one of them, if one is 
trained so that it is the handiest to use. 
The best buds are in the upper half 
of the stick, but these are often discarded 
because of being flat. If properly cut, 
they can be successfully used even to the 
terminal buds. 
For wraps, bast, raffia, woolen yarn 
and many other things are used, but 
nothing is better for rapid work than 
cheap bleached cotton cloth torn into 
strips four inches wide and some yards 
long and wrapped about a straight stick 
a half-inch square and seven inches long, 
until a diameter of one and three-quar¬ 
ters to two inches is reached. Prepare 
several of these, then put them into hot 
grafting wax such as heretofore de¬ 
scribed, and let them soak until bubbles 
cease to form; they will then be satu¬ 
rated. Don't get the wax so hot as to 
burn the cloth. When budding unwrap 
six to twelve inches, according to size of 
stock to be worked, and tear it off, then 
strip it lengthwise as you need it, a wide 
strip for large wood, a narrow one for 
slkn stocks. 
Start wrapping at the bottom, drawing 
fairly tight. Just below and just above 
the bud make a half turn in the wrap, 
that it may bind more closely, give 
the end a final rub with the thumb to 
make it tight and stick closely. Some 
wrap directly over the bud, thinking to 
keep out rain. I have not found this 
necessary. 
WRAPPING AND UNWRAPPING. 
In dry weather cotton twine makes 
fair wrapping material, but takes a little 
more time to fasten the end unless it is 
drawn into a downward cut in the bark. 
One of the members of this Society sug¬ 
gested that the ball of twine be soaked in 
wax. This I did and have found it to 
work well through the past two seasons. 
In ten days to three weeks, according 
to the condition of the trees, the buds 
will have “taken" and the wraps can be 
removed. If a non-elastic wrap like 
twine is used, this should not be neg¬ 
lected too long or strangulation will en¬ 
sue. The top should now be cut partly 
off, cutting from the side the bud is on 
and a little above it, and bent down. 
The new bud now being the highest will 
be one of the first to push. All others 
about it should be kept rubbed off. This 
kind of shield budding can be done at 
any time when the bark of the stock slips 
easily. In working the orange, it is 
best done between March i and July i, 
or left until fall for dormant budding. 
If done in July or August there is great 
danger of causing a flow of sap that will 
drown out the bud and make a running 
sore for a time. Commencing in late 
September buds and side-grafts can be 
inserted to be left until spring before 
forcing out. This is a most excellent 
way of working citrus stock, as the dor¬ 
mant buds can be safely covered in with 
banking until time to force them to 
growth in February or March. A part 
of the banking can be removed for this 
purpose, but so left that it can be quickly 
used to cover the buds if cold threatens. 
In preparing scions for cleft-grafting, 
usually one good bud is cut away. This 
can be utilized in what is called “winter 
budding." The shield is cut as for a sum¬ 
mer bud, a smooth downward cut is 
made in a small stock in a way to leave 
a tongue of thin wood and bark, a little 
longer than the shield carrying the bud, 
the thickest part of the tongue being at 
