CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - Pole Shift Survival Information

L’R(.lPrl(;A I’Ic,h’ Ii)’ Hi:DL~liVG AND GRAFTING 133
ant-l slips easil>*, and s01nt’ rcmarkablc records are made by
skillful workmen.
Budding is somct imes employed the same as top-grafting
for changing over the top of an old t.ree from one variety to
another. The buds cxnnot be easily insertTed in very old and
stiff bark, but in all smooth and fresh bark they work readily,
even if the limb
is three or four
years old ; but the
younger the limb,
the greater the proportion
of buds that ”
-. - . .
may be expected to
live. Sometimes
-
old trees are sever+-
pruned or
stubbed the year
before the budding
is to be undertaken,
t,o obtain Young --, _
shoots in which to
set, the buds. The
stubbing or heading-back
of a citrus
tree to get new FIG. 145. Tree headed back preparatory to top
shoots for budding
budding.
is indicated in Fig. 145 (adapted from a. publication by R. A.
Davis of the Department of Agriculture of the Union of South
Africa). In fruit-trees six or seven years old or less, budding is
fully as advantageous as grafting. Yew varieties are also
budded into old branches to hasten bearing of the bud, for the
purpose of testing the variety. Here budding has a distinct
advantage over grafting, as it uses fewer buds, for the wood
of new sorts is often scarce.