178 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
KEEPING FRUIT TREE BUDS BY THE “ICE BOX METHOD” 
By G. HALE HARRISON, Berlin, Maryland 
The keeping and selecting of fruit tree buds is one of the 
fundamental, and one of the most difficult problems to the 
nurscr^mien. There are very few nurserymen in America 
who handle their buds in the same manner, therefore, there is 
a varied opinion as to what is the best method. In former 
years most of the practicable methods of handling biids v^ere 
tried by the Harrison Nurseries at Berlin, Maryland, some¬ 
times with fair success, but very often with expensive failures. 
part of the buds, and the part under the eyes to turn brown. 
The brovvming of the “bud eye” cannot always be detected 
by the naked eye unless the “stick” is considerably water¬ 
logged. If a bud, in which the “eye” is browned or partly 
browned, is put in a tree it will almost invariably die. Thus, 
it is apparent that it would be an endless job to examine 
every bud before it was put into a seedling. 
It has been proven by numerous experiments that buds 
For a few years after the writer began to work in the nur¬ 
sery, he noticed quite an irregular stand of buds in the peach 
and apple blocks. At that time no one could honestly say 
what caused a fair stand of buds one year, and almost a total 
failure the next, although the same methods were used and 
most of the same men were employed. These frequent 
failures caused the various nurserymen to investigate whether 
or not there was a better way of handling buds than the 
“Bucket Method,” which was the one then most commonly 
used. 
The buds used in the “Bucket Method” were either from 
the nursery or orchard, but mostly from the former. This 
method was very simple and easy. The buds were kept in 
water from three to six inches deep in a bucket from the time 
they were cut from the parent trees until they were used. 
The buds in the bucket were generally exposed to the wind 
and scorching sun during the working hours which caused the 
water to become warm in a short time, thus causing the bud 
“sticks” to draw up large quantities of water. If the bud 
“sticks” remained in the water for any length of time, they 
became water-logged, thus causing the “eyes,” which are 
from a bearing orchard are much stronger than those from 
the nursery row, although we must admit that trees grown 
from buds which came from the nursery will grow taller but 
not as strong in caliper in a year as those from the orchard. 
The buds used in the so-called “Ice Box” method came from 
profitable bearing orchards, which are true to name, free from 
all injurious pests and fungus diseases. 
It is very important that a man who is well trained in the 
nursery business should do the selecting and cutting of all the 
buds. Do not allow a gang of men to do the cutting because 
their standard of selection would be different and there would 
likely be several mistakes. Immediately after the bud sticks 
are cut they are sprinkled with water and placed in a cool, 
shady place which is protected from the wind. The bud 
sticks are then leafed, that is the leaves are cut off with a 
sharp knife, thus leaving about a quarter of an inch of the 
stem, which protects the eye of the bud. Only the well 
ripened part of the bud stick is saved during this operation. 
After the bud sticks are leafed they are labeled and placed on 
a box in the sun in order that the outer surface might dry. 
Only one variety undergoes the operation at one time. 
