A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

it down, so as to bring several eyes under the soil, leaving the top above ground. If the shoot be cut half through, in a slanting direction, at one of these eyes, before burying it, the result is more certain. Roses, honeysuckles, and many other shrubs, are readily propagated thus. They will generally take root, by being simply buried; but cutting them, as here directed, is the best method. Layers are more certain than cuttings. For all woody plants, budding and grafting are favorite methods of propagation. In all such plants, there is an outer and inner bark; the latter containing the sap vessels, in which the nourishment of the tree ascends. The success of grafting, or inoculating, consists in so placing the bud or graft, that the sap vessels of the inner bark shall exactly join those of the plant into which they are grafted, so that the sap may pass from one into the other. The following are directions for _budding_, which may be performed at any time from July to September. Select a smooth place, on the stock into which you are to insert the bud. Make a horizontal cut, across the rind, through to the firm wood; and from the middle of this, make a slit downward, perpendicularly, an inch or more long, through to the wood. Raise the bark of the stock, on each side of the perpendicular cut, for the admission of the bud, as is shown in the annexed engraving, (Fig. 40.) Then take a shoot of this year's growth, and slice from it a bud, taking an inch below and an inch above it, and some portion of the wood under it. Then carefully slip off the woody part, under the bud. Examine whether the eye or gem of the bud be perfect. If a little hole appears in that part, the bud has lost its root, and another must be selected. Insert the bud, so that _a_, of the bud, shall pass to a, of the stock; then _b_, of the bud, must be cut off, to match the cut, b,