Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/158

 while the latter requires food for which they do not pay. There is no garden or farm but should have a few reserve Plum, Pear, Apple, Peach, Cherry and Quince stocks, on which they can place any sort of fruit they wish to preserve and multiply. These can be readily procured by sowing a few seeds, or planting a few pits, every year. Stone fruit, such as the Cherry, Peach and Plum, do best by budding. Apples and Pears do well by both grafting and budding. Budding is performed as follows: .—The operation may be performed with any sharp, thin-bladed knife, though one called a “budding-knife,” with a thin ivory handle, is best for the purpose. It should be inserted about half an inch above the bud, and passing about one-fourth of the way through the wood of the shoot, come out again about the same distance below it, the cut being as clean as possible. The portion of the bark in the centre of which the bud is situated is called the shield; and when removed, it contains a portion of the wood, which is to be carefully removed with the point of the knife, as shown in Fig. 20; if the wood is dry, and does not separate readily, it is a sign the bud is too old, and it should be rejected.

When the wood is too old or too young, the shield may be taken off only about one-eighth of the way through the shoot, and inserted into the stock without removing the portion of the wood it contains: this method, particularly with very young shoots, is very successful. If it is necessary to transport the buds to some distance, this may be safely done by cutting a