THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
5 
WINTER BUDDING . 
Queries of Several Correspondents Answered by Mr. String- 
fellow—If Practiced Properly It Rarely Fails—The Direc¬ 
tions In Detail—Early Spring Budding By The 
Ordinary Method—Caution Against Mistakes. 
Editor National Nurseryman : 
Thinking that perhaps some of your readers may never have 
tried this useful method of budding, I enclose you a descrip¬ 
tion as to how it is done. 
Insert the knife into the limb or stock, just as if a bud was 
to be cut and draw it downward an inch or less, pressing the 
cut bark back a little to keep it open. The bud is then slipped 
down next to the cut surface to the bottom. It is best to 
make the bud fully as long or a little longer than the cut on 
the limb, and let the upper end lap a little. The flap is then 
pressed back, and tried firmly, as in budding, completely 
covering the bud itself. Of course, the leaf stalk must be cut 
off close, just at the bud, so the flap will fit tight. 
If practiced properly, it rarely fails. I usually do it in 
February or March, just before the tree leafs out, but after 
the buds are swollen. The buds to be inserted, however, 
should be taken off during winter and before the sap begins to 
move. The wood can either be packed in damp moss and 
kept in a cool place or buried in moist but not too wet earth, 
on the north side of a building. After inserting the buds the 
tops should be left until the shoots are an inch or so long ; 
but in order to force the bud to grow I tie a small, strong cord 
very tightly around the limb just above where it was inserted. 
Let the flap remain over the bud for about two weeks, after 
which the string should be taken off and flap removed, so the 
bud can push. After a few inches of growth by the buds, cut 
the tops off to about six or eight inches above, but keep all 
shoots rubbed off from the stock above. As the young shoots 
grow, tie them to the naked piece of limb above. This is ab¬ 
solutely necessary, for the growth will be so strong that the 
tender shoots will all be blown off by the wind when they get 
to be two or three feet long. I have turned five-year-old trees 
into other kinds by this method and had a good crop the next 
year, and older trees could be treated just as well. I try to 
select limbs not over two inches in diameter on which to bud, 
but have put them in successfully on a four-inch limb, though 
the smaller the better. 
Now, as to early spring budding by the ordinary method, 
the safe plan is to cut the sticks of buds in winter and place 
in a cool place as described above, though I have found it 
safer to place in cold storage, if near a city, or in a refrigera¬ 
tor that is kept constantly supplied with ice. Two years ago 
I placed about 3000 Dugat orange buds, taken off in January, 
in cold storage in Galveston, and put them in during April 
without losing more than twenty-five buds. Any other tree 
could be treated the same way with equal success, just so the 
buds are kept moderately dormant. 
I omitted to say that after cutting off the tops of trees when 
winter budded, all shoots below the buds should be allowed to 
grow until the shoot from the bud is a foot or so long, after 
which they should be removed. 
Lampasas, Tex., Jan. 15 , 1900 . H. M. Stringfellow, 
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OHIO NURSERYMEN AGGRESSIVE. 
In his report of the Ohio Horticultural Society meeting to 
the Country Gentleman, L. B. Pierce says : 
Ohio nurserymen are having a good deal of trouble with the 
ironclad regulations of Michigan and other states against in¬ 
fested stock; not that it is infested, but that the laws are so 
uncompromising that it is difficult to meet their requirements 
in the lack of a regularly appointed inspector. Scarcely any 
matter of business was brought up but some nurserymen in¬ 
sisted on discussing it from the tree-grower’s standpoint, and 
nothing was allowed to go through if it did not fit their ideas 
of what was what. Perhaps this is what might be expected, 
as very few but plant and tree growers attend, but I think the 
Ohio people might learn something by attending a few meet¬ 
ings of the Western New York Society and see with what tact 
and gracefulness such things are managed in that hive of 
nurserymen. 
PROTECTION FOR THE ORIGINATOR. 
“ Any little invention often made in a few days or weeks 
can be patented at little expense, and the inventor is pro¬ 
tected by the government for many years in the enjoyment 
of the profits well earned by his skill,” says Henry Wallis, 
Wellston, Mo. “In vain has the American Association of 
Nurserymen been for many years before the Congress of the 
United States asking for the passage of a law for the just and 
proper protection of originators of new fruits. As yet these 
benefactors of the land are unprotected, and receive little or 
no reward or return for the hard labor of many years in pro¬ 
ducing and establishing new varieties and the multitude of 
nurserymen and fruit-growers reap a bountiful harvest where 
they have not sown, while mostly the originator is paid off 
with a little honor, premiums, medals, etc., without receiving 
the well-earned hard cash as the proper reward and pay for 
his life-long labors.” 
A CITY’S RESPONSIBILITY. 
City Engineer Ames, Grand Rapids, Mich., urges the plant¬ 
ing of trees upon all streets newly graded by a city, which 
would soon become delightful drives, a source of pleasure to 
all using highways, and a standing invitation to prospective 
home-owners to settle along such streets ; would also give 
direct benefit to adjacent property, and the general benefit to 
the city would be sufficient to warrant the expense of caring 
for the tree from the general fund. It would give incentive 
to protect trees, especially in front of vacant property. Mr 
Ames says he knows of but one city in this country that has 
taken upon itself entire responsibility for its tree life. 
AN ENCOURAGING REPORT. 
The report of Prof. J. B. Smith, state entomologist, at the 
New Jersey Horticultural Society meeting upon the San Jose 
scale was quite encouraging, as fruit growers have learned 
how to combat it, and it has been found that crude petroleum 
applied in a spray in winter while the trees and buds are in a 
dormant condition, is very effectual ; while the scales, un¬ 
treated, have not proved as dangerous as at first feared. 
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