THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[August 8. 
280 
Budding, theu, in spring or early summer is generally 
accompanied, it may be presumed, by a copious current 
of sap; not so, however, late summer budding on all 
occasions; the season may have been unusually warm 
and dry; the stock or subject may be short of sap, or, in 
other words, be beset with a paralysed root action ; all 
these are impediments. Can anything be done then to 
alleviate these misfortunes ? Yes. A copious watering 
the evening previous to the process will, indeed, promote 
the free rising of the bark, on which so much depends. 
In addition to this, a cloudy day is preferable to a sunny 
one, and thus, like the gardening processes of trans¬ 
planting, cutting, &c., &c , a careful choice of weather, 
when possible, is of some importance. 
In former days the chief criterion of the eligibility of 
a tree for the budding process was the cessation of 
growth, or rather of extension, in point of length in the 
stock. Such generally happens in fruit-trees: such as 
the peach, apricot, cherry, plum, &c., about the first 
or second week in August. The period, of course, being 
liable to be modified by several circumstances, as heat, 
drought, &c. Instead, however, of this waiting until 
the eleventh hour, people in these days make an earlier 
commencement; and, in fact, there is little occasion to 
delay these things after the middle of July lias passed, 
unless the stocks or scions are subjects of late growth 
and excessive luxuriance. 
We almost fear we shall be tedious in describing the 
insertion of the bud : a thing so simple that, as a mere 
mechanical process, a child seven years of age would 
soon be taught to perform with ease. Nevertheless, as 
many young ladies and young gentlemen condescend to 
listen to our practice, and to be somewhat guided there¬ 
by, we must begin at the beginning. 
The exact position of the bud being determined, the 
incision is made across the stock transversely, in length 
sufficient to create an opening for the bud; this slit 
forms the head of the incision, which, when the next 
slit is made, will form the letter T In making this slit, 
or incision, a somewhat bold cut must be made,—in lact, 
the point of the knife must be made to reach the surface 
of the wood of the stock. 
The perpendicular slit is made from the bottom up¬ 
wards, and an experienced budder gives a peculiar flirt 
or jerk to the knife when ho approaches the head of the 
T • this jerk at once rifts up the bark better than any 
slower process could do it; and the haft of the budding- 
knife is in a moment turned round, and the point intro¬ 
duced ; and by pressing it close to the wood, right and 
left, the bark is, as it were, ploughed up, or liberated 
from the wood. 
All is now ready for the reception of the bud, which 
is, indeed, by most good budders prepared first, as 
follows:—The cutting or shoot of the kind to be in¬ 
serted being wood of the current year’s growth, is gene¬ 
rally kept in a waterpot, first cutting off all the leaves : 
care must, however, be taken to leave most of the 
petiole (leaf stalk) to handle tho bud by ; this also, 
doubtless, assists in forming a speedy union. 
The bud, with its bark and a little of the wood of the 
tree, is then cut off in the form of a shield; and the 
point of the knife and thumb-nail of tho right hand, 
by a little nice handling, are made to remove the portion 
of woody matter from tho centre. The bud is instantly 
introduced beneath tho bark in the T incision of the 
stock, whore, as before observed, it is found in the same 
relation to the stock or stem of its new parent as existed 
between it and the shoot whence it sprang. This done, 
it is carefully and closely, but not tightly, bound with 
the. bast; the operator generally beginning to bind at 
tho lower end, gives an extra tug with the mat when he 
■comes tolerably close to the lower end of the petiole. 
This is an old practice, and not particularly intelligible; 
the meaning, we suppose—if meaning it have—being, 
that the tightness of the ligature in that precise position 
impedes slightly the returning sap, thereby concentrating 
it about the bud. 
Some persons employ a grafting wax to cover the 
parts where air may enter; the following mixture will 
make a very useful kind:—Sealing wax, one part; 
mutton fat, one part; white wax, one part; honey, ouc- 
eighth part. Tho white wax and fat are first melted, 
and then the sealing wax is to bo added, gradually, in 
small pieces: the mixture being kept constantly stirred ; 
lastly, the honey must be put in, just before taking it oil 
the fire. It should be poured into paper or tin moulds, 
and kept slightly agitated till it begins to congeal. 
We before observed, that when the seasOn is late, and 
tho bark rises somewhat badly, it may be excited to rise, j 
A liberal watering with liquid-manure, ot the tempera- ; 
fure of 90°, the day before the operation, will in general 
facilitate the proceeding. When the bud or shield, after 
the wood is removed, appears hollow at the bud part, it 
is commonly rejected. Such are not always barren, but 
they are apt to lie dormant for a year or two. 
When a choice of position oilers itself, we prefer the 
shady side of the stock; it is of more importance, how¬ 
ever, to select a clear portion of the stem, free from 
knots; although some fancy the bud takes better if 
placed in a position from whence a natural bud has been 
removed. It should be taken as a maxim, that only 
those buds should be selected, the leaves of which have 
become fully developed; the leaf also should, il possible, 
be unblemished. 
Cloudy weather is in all cases to be preferred to sunny 
periods; and we may add that one of the chief criteria 
of the stock being in a condition to bud, is the pre¬ 
monitory sign of a speedy cessation of growth, as evinced 
by a sort of stationary character. This must not, how¬ 
ever, be the only dependence ; stocks may be tried and 
proved in some portion about to be cut away. 
R. Eruington. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
Garden-walks. —Those awful tempests which we 
experienced just on the turn of St. Switbin’s day, tore 
up garden-walks in all parts of the oouutry whore the 
ground was not level; any path, or alley, or walk 
on tho side of a bank or any sloping ground, unless 
made on a plan very different to the usual way, must 
have been washed into sloughs and gullies, and every 
kind of inequalities. 1 recollect seven or eight years 
since we had such another routing here with a summer 
storm, but this time we escaped very nearly. Mr. ! 
Rivers, the great rose-grower, called here the next day 
after all our walks were nearly washed away, and ho 
was so frightened with the wreck of what he was told 
were fine gardens that he never came to see us since. 
At that time I took it into my head that we were all 
wrong about making garden-walks, carriage-roads and 
all, and I wished very much to try an experiment or 
two on a large scale, to see how far I could succeed in 
another direction—but fanciful experiments are dear 
toys. However, through tho indulgence of my worthy 
employer, I did get a fair start in making a walk on a 
novel plan—on the level, and on all kinds of inclina¬ 
tions, from a gentle swell to a steep hill side, where wo 
are under the necessity of using long flights of steps to 
get up and down, in several parts of tho garden ; and 
now I shall cordially shake bauds with S. N. V. (see page 
203), and some of these days I shall tell him how to 
construct a walk along tho face of “ Snowden,” the 
Malvern Hills, the Peak of Derby, or from tho top of 
Arthur’s Scat to Salisbury Craigs, which will be storm 
proof as long as either of us live and can walk without 
a stick. Rut, like S. N. V., I should first like to hear 
