appear to go to rest after this period, and begin to cast their foliage. Now. to a certain extent, this is true of the young trees. The varieties that ripen their fruit early, make their growth in the nursery in the early portion of the summer, they stop growing, and their terminal bud is formed and is conspicuous at the top of the shoots. Very soon the supply of sap appears to be diminished, there is no longer so much activity in the circulation, the bark cleaves to the wood, it will no longer run, and the season of budding for those stocks has reached its terminus; hence, the nurseryman must be upon the look-out for the condition of his trees. Fortunately, those species which have the shortest season, are also the first to be ready, the first to mature their buds, and they must be budded first. We may com mence with the cherry, though the Mahaleb stock, when it is used, continues in condition longer than other varieties, and may be worked late. The plum and pear stock also complete their growth at an early period in the season ; the apple continues longer in good condition, and may be worked quite late. Grapes, if worked in this way, should be attended to about mid season, while they are still growing; but quinces and peaches may be kept in a growing state much later than roost other stocks, and can be budded last of all. The stocks being in a suitable con dition, as above described, they should be trim med of their lateral shoots for a few inches from -the ground. This may be done immediately in advance of the budder, or it may have been done a few days before the budding. The stock may be one year old, or two years; after this period they do not work so well. The usual method is to make a T incision through the bark of the stock, as low down as possible, but in a smooth piece of the stem; some prefer to insert the shield just below the natural site of a bud. The knife should be thin and sharp, and if the stock be in good condition, it will pass through the bark with very little resistance; but if the stock is too "dry, the experienced budder will detect it by the different feeling communicated through his knife, by the increased resistance to be over come in making the cut. The custom has been to raise the bark by inserting the haft of the bud ding-knife gently, so as to star! the corners of the incision, preparatory to inserting the bud ; but our hest budders depend upon the shield separat ing the bark as it is introduced. The two illus trations will show the difference between budding and grafting, and also the manner of cutting the bud—the slit or nidus—for insertion, and also the manner of tying, with bast or other soft sub stance, as the inner husk of corn, or woolen yarn, waxed. Some use strips of manilla tissue-paper covered with soft grafting-wax. (See also, article Grafting.) Make a cut from the scion with the the knife used for budding, which is entered half an inch above the bud, and drawn downward about one-third the diameter of the scion, and brought out an equal distance below the bud; this makes the shield, or bud. Some authorities direct that the wood should be removed from the shield before it is inserted ; this is a nice operation, requiring some dexterity to avoid injuring the base of the bud, which constitutes its connection with the medulla, or pith, within the stick. Various appliances have been in vented to aid in this separation; some use a piece of quill, others a kind of gouge; but if the bark run freely on the scion, there will be little diffi culty in separating the wood froin the shield with the fingers alone. All this may be avoided hy adopting what is called the American method of budding, which consists in leaving the wood in the shield, as shown in the cut, that should be cut thinner, and is then inserted be neath the bark without any difficulty, and may be made to fit closely enough for gll practical purposes. In budding, it is found that the upper end of the shield is the last to adhere to the stock; it needs to be closely applied and pressed hy the bandage, and if too long, so as to project above the transverse incision, it should be cut off. Tying should be done as soon as conven ient after the buds have been inserted; though under very favorable circumstances the bud may adhere and do well without any bandaging; no one thinks of leaving the work without carefully tying in the buds, and most budders lay a great deal of stress upon the necessity for covering the whole shield and cut with a continuous bandag ing, that shall exclude the light, and air, and moisture. All ties should be loosened in the course of a couple of weeks, if the stocks be growing freely; otherwise they will injure the tree by strangulation. Sometimes it will be necessary to replace the bandage to prevent the effects of desiccation upon the bud ; this is par ticularly the case with the cherry, and other fruits that are budded early; but the tie is often left on the stock all winter, as a sort of protec tion to the bud. When loosening the ties, the buds are inspected and their condition ascer. tained; if they have failed, they may be replaced, the stocks continue in a suitable condition. It is very easy to tell the success of the budding; the portion of the petiole left upon the shield is a very good index; if the bud has withered, this will also be brown and will adhere firmly to the shield; but, on the contrary, the bud and its shield having formed a union with the stock, the leaf-stock remains plump, but changes color.
Like a leaf-stem in the autumn, it assumes the tint of ripeness, and it will separate with a touch, and soon falls off. The common method of re moving the ties is to cut them with a single strok.e of a sharp knife, when the bandage is left to fall off. Mr. Knight recommended two dis tinct ligatures, and left the one above the bud for a longer time uncut. When the buds have not been very fully developed, and when the stocks are very thrifty, it sometimes happens that the excessive growth about the incisions, made for the insertion of the bud, completely cover up this little germ of a future tree, which is then said to be drowned. Judicious pinching and shortening of the stock will prevent this effect, hut care is needed not to pursue such treatment too far. The stocks are generally headed back to within an inch or more of the bud, just as vegetation starts the next spring; but early-set buds may be headed back so soon as they have taken, and will often make a nice growth the same season. This, however, is not generally preferred, and a late start in the growing weather of our autumns is particularly avoided, as the young shoot will not become matured before winter, and may be entirely lost. Spring budding is sometimes desirable, either to fill up gaps in the nursery rows, or to secure varieties, the scions of which, may have heen received too late for grafting, or when it is desirable to multiply them as rnuch as possible, by making every bud grow. When the operation is to be perfortned in the spring, the scions must be kept back, by placing them in the ice-house until the stocks are in full leaf, when the bark , will peel readily, and the buds may be inserted with a pretty fair prospect of success; of course, the American rnethothmust be used in this case, as the wood and bark of the dormant scion will not separate. The stocks should be cut down as early in the spring as the buds begin to swell, with a sharp knife, applied just above the bud, and on the same side; the whole upper portion of the stock must be removed by a clean cut; this is better than to leave a stump of three or four inches, as is often recommended, as a sup port to which to tie up the buds in their tender growth. All shoots from the stock should be rubbed out while young; this may need repeat ing a second time. If the stocks were strong the buds will make handsome, sturdy trees the. first season , the branched form may be assisted by pinching the points when a few inches high, as recommended with the grafts. Two year old stocks should make pretty trees, at one year old from the bud. In propagation, the proper plan will be found to be as follows: Apple and pear, budding and grafting. Cherry, mostly by bud ding, but succeeds well by grafting, if done very early. Peach and nectarine, by budding only, at the North; often succeeds by grafting at the South. Plum, by grafting, and also by budding, if the stocks are thrifty. Apricot, mostly by budding, sometimes by grafting. Almond, by budding, and sometimes by grafting. Chestnut, by early grafting. Walnut, by early grafting, and by annual budding. Quince, by cutting& and grafting. Filbert, by suckers and layers. The finer sorts may be grafted on the more common, which reduces the size Of the bush and makes them more prolific. Grape, by layers and cuttings; and, in rare instances, grafting is advantageously employed for new or rare sorts on old or wild stocks, producing rapid growth and early bearing.. Raspberry and blackberry, hy suckers, cuttings of roots, and layers. Goose berry and currant, by cuttings, and sometimes by layers. In relation to stocks: For standard or orchard-trees, the pear and apple are grafted or budded upon seedlings raised from pips of any thrifty sort of each of these fruits. The Mazzard and Black Heart furnish good stocks for grafting with the cherry. At the West, where the cherry is easily injured, stocks raised from seeds of the Dukes and Morellos are the bardiest for all kinds of cherries. The horse-plurn makes a good stock when it will grow f reely for this purpose; but, in localities where it will not, the wild or Canada plum, of the largest grovving varieties, is a good substitute. The peach and nectarine are usually worked on comrnon peach stocks; but they make very hardy trees on the hard-shelled almond; and, on the plum, the trees are hardy and of slower or more dwarfed growth. The apricot does well on the peach or plum, or on its own roots. Cultivators differ as to which is the hest on all accounts. For dwarfs, the Angers or French quince, is used wholly for the pear. The Doucin and Paradise are employed for dwarfing apples; the former being for the larger or medium-sized dwarfs, and the latter for small ones, the apple-trees worked upon it not growing much larger than currant bushes. The Mahaleb is used for dwarf cherries, reducing their size and vigor of growth hut slightly, how ever. It enables the cherry to grow better on heavy soils. The smaller varieties of the wild plum form, perhaps, the best stocks for the growth of dwarf plums.