Budding

BUDDING. Budding is not now practised ;to so great an extent as formerly, since with ordinary fruits, especially the pip fruits, grafting is fully as good, and very much faster, especially since the introduction of improved grafting im plements. Budding. soinetimes called inoculat ing, is tbe insertion of a single eye or bud under the bark, and is practised with the peach and other stone fruits, and in the multiplication of varieties, when the economy of buds is an object. It is also practised by florists, more especially with roses and all that class of stock. Among the advantages of this method is, under expert hands, certainty of growth and rapid perform ance. It may be practised during a long season, according to the variety of trees and plants to be operated upon. Upon this subject Dr. Warder says: It has been claimed on behalf of the process of budding, that trees, which have been worked in this method, are more hardy and better able to resist the severity of winter than others of the same varieties, which have been grafted in the root or collar, and also that budded trees come sooner into bearing. Their general hardiness will probably not be at all affected by their manner of propagation ; except, perhaps, where there may happen to be a marked difference in the ha.bit of the stock, such, for instance, as maturity early in the season, which would have a tendency to check the late growth of the scion placed upon it—the supplies of sap being diminished, instead of continuing to flow into the graft, as it would do from the roots of the cutting or root-graft of a variety which was inclined to make a late autumnal growth. Prac tically, however, this does not have much weight, nor can we know, in a lot of seedling stocks, which will be the late feeders, and which will go into an early summer rest. 1VIr. A. R. Whitney, of Franklin Grove, Ill., a thor oughly observing man and successful orchardist, holds that certain varieties of our cultivated fruits are found to have a remarkable tendency to make an extended and very thrifty growth, which, continuing late in the autumn, would appear to expose the young trees to a very severe trial upon the access of the first cold weather, and we often find them very seriously injured under such circumstances; the bark is frequently split and ruptured for several inches near the ground. The twigs, still covered with abundant foliage, are so affected by the frost that their whole outer surface is shriveled, and the inner bark and wood are browned; the latter often becomes permanently blackened, and re mains as dead matter in the centre of the tree. for death does not necessarily ensue. Intelligent nurserymen have endeavored to avoid losses from these causes by budding such varieties upon strong, well-established stocks, though they are aware that these are not more hardy than some of the cultivated varieties; a given num ber of seedling stocks has been found to suffer as much from the severity of winter as do a similar amount of the grafted varieties taken at random. In relation to the philosophy of bud ding, and its similarity to grafting, Dr. Warder says, the latter process is performed when the plant life is almost dormant, and the co-apted parts are ready to take the initiative steps of vegetation, and to effect their union by means of new adventitious cells, hefore the free flow of sap in the growing season. Budding, on the contrary, is done in the height of that season, and toward its close, when the plants are full of well matured and highly organized sap, when the cell circulation is most active, and the union between ihe parts is much more immediate than in the graft; were it not so, indeed, the little shield, with its actively evaporating surface, of young bark, must certainly perish from exposure to a hot, dry atmosphere. The cambium, or gelatinous matter, which is discovered between the bark and the wood when they are separated, is a nutss of organizahle cells. Budding is most successfully performed when this matter is abundant, for then the vitality of the tree is in greatest degree of exaltation. Mr. A. T. Thom son, in his lectures on the Elements of Botany, says: The individuality of buds must have been suspected -as early as the discovery of the art of budding, and it is fully proved by the dissection of plants Budding is founded on the fact that the bud, which is a branch in embryo, is a distinct individual It is essential that both the bud and the tree into which it is inserted, should not only be analogous in their character, as in grafting with the scion, but both must be in a state of growth at the time the operation is performed. The union, how ever, depends much more upon the bud than upon the stock—the bud may be considered a centre of vitality—vegetative action commences in the bud and extends to the stock, connecting them together. The vital energy, however, which commences the process of organization in the bud, is not necessarily confined to the germ, nor distinct from that vvhich maintains the growth of the entire plant; but it is so connected with organization, that, when this has pro ceeded a certain length, the bud may be re moved from the parent and attached to another, where it will become a branch the same as if it had not been removed. The season for budding

is usually in midsummer and the early part of autumn, reference being had to the condition of the plants to be worked ; these should be in a thrifty, growing state, the woody fibre should be pretty well advanced, but growth by exten sion must still be active, or the needful con ditions will not be found. The cambium must be present between the bark and the wood of the stock, so that the former can be easily separated from the latter; in the language of the art, the bark must " run;" this state of things will soon cease in most stocks, after the forma tion of terminal buds on the shoots. The suc cess of spring budding, however, would appear to indicate that the cambium layer is formed earlier in the season than is usually supposed ; for whenever the young leaves begin to be developed on the stock, " the bark will run," and the buds may be inserted with a good pros pect of success. In this case we are obliged to use dormant buds that were formed the previous year, and we should exercise judgment and care in the zoreservation of the scions, to keep them back by the application of cold, until the time of their insertion. The condition of the bud, says Dr. Warder, in American Pomology, is also important to the success of the operation. The tree from which we cut the scions should be in a growing state, though this is not so essential as in the case of the stock, as has been seen in spring budding—still a degree of activity is de sirable. The young shoot should have perfected its growth to such an extent as to have deposited its woody fibre; it should not be too succulent, but the essential ,condition is, that it should have its buds well developed. These, as every one knows, are formed in the axils of the leaves, and, to insure success, they should be plump and well grown. In those fruits which blossom on wood shoots of the previous year's growth, as the peach and apricot, the blossom buds should be avoided; they are easily recognized by their greater size and plumpness. In cutting scions, or bud-sticks, the most vigorous shoots should be avoided, they are too soft and pithy; the close-joioted, firm shoots, of medium size, are much to be preferred, as they have well developed buds, which appear to have more vitality. Such scions are found at the ends of the lateral branches. These need immediate attention, or they will be lost. The evaporation of their juices through the leaves would soon cause them to wither and wilt, and become useless. These appendages are, therefore, immediately removed by cutting the petiole from a quarter to half an inch from the scion; a por tion of the stem is thus left as a convenient han dle when inserting the shield, and this also serves afterwards as an index to the condition of the bud. So soon as trimmed of their leaves, the scions are tied up, and enveloped loosely in a damp cloth, or in moss, or fresh grass, to exclude them from the air. If they should become wilted, they must not be put into water, as this injures them; it is better to sprinkle the cloth. I and tie them up tightly, or they may be restored by burying them in moderately moist earth. The early gardeners were very particular as to the kind of weather upon which to do their budding. They recommended a cloudy or a showery day, or the evening, in order to avoid the effects of the hot sunshine. This might do in a small garden, where the operator could select his opportunity to bud a few dozen stocks; but even there, wet weather should be avoided rather than courted. But, in the large commercial nurseries, where tens of thousands of buds are to be inserted, there can be no choice of weather; indeed, many nur serymen prefer bright sunshine and the hottest weather, as they find no inconvenience arising to • the trees from this source. Some even aver that their success is better under such circumstances, and argue that the pulp is richer. Most trees, in their mature state, make all their growth by ex tension or elongation very early in the season, by one push, as it were; with the first unfolding of the leaves, comes also the elongation of the twig that bears them. In most adult trees in a state of nature, there is no further growth in this, way, but the internal changes of the sap continue to be effected among the cells during the whole. period of their remaining in leaf, during which, there is a continual flow of crude sap absorbed by the roots, and taken up into the organism of the tree, to aid in the perfection of the various parts, and in the preparation of the proper juice and the several products peculiar to the tree, as well as its wood and fruits. When all this is transpiring within its economy, the tree is said to be in its full flow of sap; at this stage the young tree is in the best condition for budding, but it continues also, if well cultivated, to grow by extension for a greater or shorter portion of the season, and, this is essential to the success of the operation as already stated. After the perfecting of the crop of fruit, the main work of the tree seems to have been done for the year, and we often observe, particularly with the summer fruits, that the trees.