July 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
alburnum of another plant, will become vitally 
united to it. On these facts the art of budding is 
founded. This mode of grafting is chiefly applica¬ 
ble to woody plants; and the scion may, in general, 
be seemed to the stock, and sufficiently protected 
there, by bandages of bast mat, or thread, without 
the use of grafting clay or wax. The union between 
the scion and stock takes place in the first instance 
in consequence of the exudation of organisable 
matter from the soft wood of the stock, and it is 
rendered permanent by the returning sap from the 
leaves of the stock, or from those of the shoot made 
by the bud.” 
It will be seen by these remarks that it is princi¬ 
pally the returning sap which promotes the junction 
between the scion and the stock: a fact which we 
would wish to impress on the minds of all horticul¬ 
tural tyros, and the cottager also would do well to 
bear it in mind ; for herein lies the germ of a great 
principle, which rules many gardening processes. 
A great number of fantastic modes of budding are 
practised by various persons, especially our neigh¬ 
bours on the continent; and certainly some of them 
(seldom practised in England) are very interesting 
to those who wish to exercise their ingenuity. To 
explain the whole would occupy more space than we 
can spare in our number; we must, therefore, return 
to the subject at another opportunity, and in the 
meantime content ourselves with that portion of it 
which is principally practised in our great nurseries 
on out-door fruits, for no better practice exists. 
This kind is termed shield budding. The main uses 
of budding are thus quoted by Loudon: “ To pro¬ 
pagate some kinds with which the other modes of 
grafting are not so successful as the rose; to per¬ 
form the operation of grafting with greater rapidity 
than with detached scions or inarching, as in the 
case of most fruit trees; to unite early vegetating 
trees with late vegetating ones, as the apricot with the 
plum, they being both in the same state of vegeta¬ 
tion during the budding season; to graft, without 
the risk of injuring the stock in case of want of suc¬ 
cess, as in side budding, and in flute budding with¬ 
out heading down; to introduce a number of species 
or varieties on the same stem, which could not be 
done by any other mode of grafting without disfigur¬ 
ing the stock in the event of the want of success; to 
prove the blossoms or fruits of any tree, in which 
case blossom buds are chosen instead of leaf buds; 
and, finally, as the easiest mode of distributing a 
great many lands on the branches of a tree, as in 
the case of roses, camellias, and fruit trees.” Thus 
far Loudon, who hereby gives a pretty clear illustra¬ 
tion of the objects to be obtained by budding, as 
distinguished from spring grafting, yet forming a 
mere section of that operation. We need scarcely 
offer an apology for quoting from so good an authority 
on this occasion, for we are not aware that we 
could have enumerated the objects quite as well. 
We may now observe that for those who have 
much to perform in this way, it is indispensable that 
they provide themselves with a budding knife, for 
although an ordinary knife may be made to perform 
the operation, yet it is by no means fit for so delicate 
a proceeding. This kind of knife can be purchased 
of any respectable seedsman. 
Season. —Some choice of season should be made, 
if possible, for the operation, for it is much better 
performed when the atmosphere is moist and the sun 
absent than otherwise; and although nurserymen, 
from pressure of business, bud in all weathers, yet 
the amateur and cottager may easily choose a proper 
307 
period. Besides the condition of the atmosphere, 
the state of the soil as to moisture should be taken 
into consideration. If a period of drought should 
occur, the bark will be found not to rise so readily 
as when a lively root action prevails; more especi¬ 
ally if the season be far advanced, or the stocks to 
be operated on are of some age, or “ beneath par” 
in point of strength. This, then, will readily suggest 
the propriety of root watering previously, even using 
liquid manure in important cases, in order to throw 
an extra amount of the ascending sap into the sys¬ 
tem, by which means the bark will rise with a greater 
facility. 
Mode of Performing the Operation. —Expedi¬ 
tion is the principal thing, and this of course pre¬ 
supposes some dexterity and expertness. In summer 
budding, the cutting or shoot from whence the buds 
or scions are taken is not cut from the parent 
tree until the moment the operation is about to com¬ 
mence. The best way is to provide a pan or can 
with some water in it. The moment the young 
shoot which is to produce the scions is removed 
from the parent, let all the leaves be cut off, leaving 
the petioles, or footstalks, of the leaves to handle the 
buds by. The ends of the young shoots may then 
be stuck on end in the water, taking care, of course, 
to number or name them, if accuracy of this kind 
be requisite. All being thus in readiness, and the 
operator having a bundle of long, bright, and strong 
bast hanging by his side, and a finely whetted bud¬ 
ding knife (or a relay of them where much business 
has to be done) in his hand, operations may com¬ 
mence. We will suppose what may be termed a 
nurseryman’s case, viz., a young plum, apricot, or 
peach stock; that is to say, in their phraseology, the 
Brussels stock for the plum, the commoner stock for 
the apricot, and the muscle stock for the peach. Such 
stocks are generally about a couple of feet in height, 
and they are mostly budded about a foot from the 
ground. The operator generally turns his back to 
the stock, for such stocks are generally branched a 
little, and by backing up to them, the axillary 
branches are forced right and left out of the way of 
the operator by means of his legs. Well, he then 
takes a scion out of his waterpot, and generally com¬ 
mences at the lower end of it. With a clean cut he 
takes out a bud, now called “ a shield,” for it is ne¬ 
cessary to cut nearly an inch above the bud, and the 
same below it: and with this shield a slight portion 
of the woody part of the stem is taken. Now, with 
railway speed, the wood must be extracted: this is 
readily done with the finger and thumb of the right 
hand, and one caution is here necessary. If a hole 
appears at the back of the bud, on the shield, it 
must be rejected as worthless; it is a sign that the 
shoot is not sufficiently mature, and that the bud 
was not properly organised, or that it has been 
drawn out by the very roots, in extracting the piece 
of wood, or rather alburnous matter. The bud being 
right, a slit must be made across the stock, at the 
very point where the bud must be inserted. This 
slit runs across, and with the assistance of another 
below it, and running perpendicularly into the cen¬ 
tre of it, must form a figure like the capital letter T. 
The haft of the budding knife must now be applied to 
the sides of the incision, and by a gentle pressure 
up and down, the bark will be found to become 
readily detached from the wood. Taking hold of the 
leaf stalk of the bud or shield, the operator now 
slips it in beneath the raised bark of the incision in 
the stock, and when this is done, a compact and close 
tying of bast, from the bottom of the shield to the 
