THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. Maech 13. 18G0. 
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 iu readiness, and the operator having a bundle of long, 
bright, and strong bast hanging by his side, and a finely whetted 
budding-knife (or a relay of them where much business has to 
be done), in his hand, operations may commence. 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 phraseo- 
logy, 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 commences at the lower end of it. With a clean cut 
he takes out a bud, now called ‘ a shield,’ for it is necessary 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 worth¬ 
less ; 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 in extracting the piece of wood, or rather albur- 
nous 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 centre 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 leafstalk 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 top, 
completes the process. All this, though apparently tedious in 
the detail, is merely the work of a minute, or, at most, a couple 
of minutes, to an expert and well-practised operator. We, how¬ 
ever, can do no more than state the details of the process, 
and the mode of carrying it out: expertness must fee acquired 
by some practice in this as in most other matters. All we can say 
in addition is, that unless each bud is quickly inserted after being 
extracted from the parent shoot, success becomes very doubtful, 
especially if the atmosphere is dry and the sun shines brightly. 
We would advise that any side of the stock be selected but 
that directly south. The sun has a powerful action in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the bud when iu this situation ; and such is, there¬ 
fore, to be avoided, although we are aware many old practitioners 
in the nurseries do not pay any heed to such distinctions. . The 
reason is, that their mode of conducting the operation is so 
expert, and so much expedition is exercised, that the bud scarcely 
suffers at all in its transit; it therefore succeeds in nine cases 
out of ten. 
“ We would advise particular attention to the following points, 
whatever the kind of tree may be, or whatever the height or 
position may be at which it is budded. 
««igt,—That the tree be in a state of high elaboration—that is 
to say, great part of the foliage thoroughly developed, and the 
growing or extending principle rather on the wane. This will, 
in general, take place between the second week of July and the 
second week in August, in most parts of Britain. 
“ 2nd.—That a lively course of root action be secured, by 
having recourse in seasons of drought to copious watering a day 
previous to budding. 
“ 3rd.—To reject all buds that appear torn out or otherwise 
injured : this is indicated by the hollow before named. 
“ 4th.—To avoid any extreme of mutilation or pruning back, 
at the period of budding; we have seen Roses reduced to a mere 
stump for convenience’ sake : such cannot be successful. 
“ 5th.—To avoid too tight ligatures ; the bast must be quite 
close, but not tight. It should be understood that the bud does 
not form the union by means of pressure alone ; the bast acts 
beneficially also by shading the bark of the shield, or bud, 
thereby preventing excessive perspiration. 
“ Those who have a variety of fruits to bud should take them 
according to the order in which the wood becomes perfect: thus, 
Cherries may stand first, Apricots second, Plums and Pears third, 
and Peaches and Nectarines fourth. The only after care, is to 
water occasionally during the first fortnight, if the weather is 
very dry, and to remove the bandages in due time. This may, 
in general, be safely done within a month, and the best criterion 
of the success of the hud is the dropping off of the footstalk. If 
the bud is taking w r ell, this will fall away in a week or two; but 
if the footstalk shrivels up, it is a bad sign. The portion of the 
stock below the bud should, in all cases, be kept clear from use¬ 
less spray. In cases where it is necessary to reserve such shoots, 
it will suffice to pinch off their growing-points.”—J. 
(To be continued.) 
GREENHOUSE BETWEEN THE WINGS OF A 
HOUSE. 
sib j. paxton’s glass steucttjees. 
The back of my house has a room 12 feet high projecting on 
each side of my back-parlour window, the width 9 feet by 13 
feet 6 inches. If I boarded over the open space on a level with 
the parlour floor, and covered with glass, and a glass front, 
which faces due south, should I have any chance of making it a 
good greenhouse ? If so, need I have any ventilation on the 
top, as the back window would open into the greenhouse, and 
the front would have sashes to open ? The ground at the back 
is 10 feet lower than the front of the house, and would be en¬ 
closed, keeping the space under the greenhouse warmer. None 
but quite hardy plants would do in the winter. A door is 
already in its place leading on to a landing only 3 feet wide, 
and leading to steps into the garden. 
Is Sir Joseph Paxton’s plan of hothouse building suitable for 
a greenhouse, as the plants must be on the ground? For an 
orchard-house with trees in pots it would not do so well as for 
Vines—being moveable is its chief advantage. Messrs. Weeks 
think it a retrograde movement, and not suitable for the million. 
Except its new plan of ventilation, I see no claim to a patent. 
The same thing I saw years back. Long sasli-lights fastened 
at the top and placed in a gutter, and Cucumbers growing in¬ 
side. A flue ran all round. The furnace was inside, and above 
it an old boiler which warmed water to mix with cold for the 
Cucumbers, and by removing the lid caused steam. I presume 
you have seen the model at 7, Pall Mall East.—G. B. C. 
[We think we understand what you mean, but the first 
period is a puzzler, which we have read and re-read in connection 
with the context, without being able thoroughly to understand 
it. Our impression is, that the floor of your back parlour is 10 
or 12 feet above the outside ground level, that the parlour 
window looks into an open space 9 feet wide and 13 feet 0 
inches long; that that space is bounded by walls on each side, 
east and west, and open to the south, and the propriety of 
boarding this space over on a level with the parlour floor is 
questioned, so as to fit it for a greenhouse. We approve 
heartily of the suggestion, but instead of having the greenhouse 
floor on a level, we would place it three or four inches below 
the parlour floor, so that no wet or anything of that kind should 
affect the parlour. To make the most of it, then, whatever you 
may do as to the door and landing at present in existence, we 
would turn that parlour window into a glass-door, from whence 
you can pass into the conservatory at once.- If your side-walls 
had only been 10 or 12 feet high, so as to obtain morning and 
