American Pomology. Apples

by J. A. Warder

Fig. 22.—MR. JACKSON'S MANNER OF TYING THE BUD.

S.S. Jackson, whose improvements in budding have already been mentioned, also adopts another in tying. He holds that it is not at all necessary to hide the bud with the tie, the only requisite being to retain the parts in contact. He uses No. 3 cotton yarn, cut in lengths of a few inches, more or less, according to the size of the stocks; a couple of strands are pulled out from the cut bundles; the first turn around the stock secures the end of the string by its own pressure, one turn more is taken below the bud and one or two above it, when the free end is passed into a cleft made through the bark above the point where the bud is inserted. This is found to secure the string sufficiently, and is easily loosened when necessary to relieve the tension caused by the continued growth, (fig. 22).

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 particularly 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 protection to the bud. When loosening the ties, the buds are inspected and their condition ascertained; if they have failed, they may be replaced, if 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-stalk 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 removing the ties is to cut them with a single stroke of a sharp knife, when the bandage is left to fall off. Mr. Knight recommended two distinct 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, but 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 to be avoided, as the young shoot will not become matured before winter, and may be lost.

The advantages of propagating by budding may be summed up in the following remarks, which are presented even at the risk of some repetition.

This favorite method of multiplying varieties has some advantages over grafting, and is by many preferred on account of the facility with which it can be performed, and because it affords a means of increasing sorts in the nursery that have not been grafted, and of filling up gaps in the rows where grafts have missed; and it has been reported, that budded trees of certain varieties were more hardy than those which had been root-grafted. The objections, if such they can be called, are, that the period of performing the operation is limited, and that the young shoots from the buds generally have a curve that makes a crook or blemish in the tree when it goes from the nursery—neither of these objections constitute any real difficulty; on the contrary, the advantages quite over-balance them: as already suggested, it is a good plan for double-working certain varieties. The season for budding is at the period when the longitudinal growth of the stock is nearly completed, and when the wood-forming process is most active, so that the bark will part most freely from the wood—in other words, while the stock is still quite active in its circulation, but has, in a measure, made its growth. The scions used must have so far completed their growth for the season as to have filled their buds handsomely, but yet be so young as to allow the wood to part freely from the bark of the shields when they are cut. Those who desire to bud early, may accelerate the development of the buds by nipping off the points of the shoots to be used, this, in a few days, causes the buds to swell. The season of budding will thus depend upon the high culture of the nursery, and upon the condition of the trees from which the scions of buds are to be cut. Budding should never be done unless the stock is in perfectly good condition, if otherwise, it is labor lost. The old writers recommended damp, cloudy, or even showery weather; but under our bright summer skies our large establishments would never be able to dispose of their work, were they to wait for such suitable weather. Fortunately it is not found necessary to select such a season, but the greatest success attends the budding that is done in fine bright and even hot weather. The scions should be kept wrapped in a damp cloth, excluded from the rapid evaporation to which they would be subjected if exposed—this is better than to keep them in water, which exhausts them by dilution of the sap they contain. The scions should have their leaves removed, so soon as they are cut from the tree; this is done with a knife or the thumb nail, leaving a short piece of the leaf-stalk for convenience when inserting the buds.

Spring budding is sometimes desirable, either to fill up gaps in the nursery-rows, or to secure varieties, the scions of which may have been received too late for grafting, or when it is desirable to multiply them as much as possible, by making every bud grow. When the operation is to be performed 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 method must 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 support 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 repeating a second time.