CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - ZetaTalk

L’R(.lPrl(;A I’Ic,h’ Ii)’ Hi:DL~liVG AND GRAFTING 133ant-l slips easil>*, and s01nt’ rcmarkablc records are made byskillful workmen.Budding is somct imes employed the same as top-graftingfor changing over the top of an old t.ree from one variety toanother. The buds cxnnot be easily insertTed in very old andstiff bark, but in all smooth and fresh bark they work readily,even if the limbis three or fouryears old ; but theyounger the limb,the greater the proportionof buds that ”-. - . .may be expected tolive. Sometimes-old trees are sever+-pruned orstubbed the yearbefore the buddingis to be undertaken,t,o obtain Young --, _shoots in which toset, the buds. Thestubbing or heading-backof a citrustree to get new FIG. 145. Tree headed back preparatory to topshoots for buddingbudding.is indicated in Fig. 145 (adapted from a. publication by R. A.Davis of the Department of Agriculture of the Union of SouthAfrica). In fruit-trees six or seven years old or less, budding isfully as advantageous as grafting. Yew varieties are alsobudded into old branches to hasten bearing of the bud, for thepurpose of testing the variety. Here budding has a distinctadvantage over grafting, as it uses fewer buds, for the woodof new sorts is often scarce.