A new and expeditious Mode of Budding. By THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT, Esq. F. R. S From the TRANSACTIONS of the HORTICULTURAL PARKINSON, in his Paradisus Londoniensis, which was published in 1629, has observed, that the nurserymen of his days had been so long in the practice of substituting one variety of fruit for another, that the habit of doing so was almost become hereditary amongst them: were we to judge from the modern practice, in some public nurseries, we might suspect the possessors of them, to be the offspring of intermarriages, between the descendants of those alluded to by Parkinson. He has, however, mentioned his "very good friend, Master John Tradescant" and "Master John Miller," as exceptions; and similar exceptions are, I believe, to be found in modern days. It must, however, be admitted, that wherever the character of the leaf does not expose the error of the grafter, as in the different varieties of the peach and nectarine, mistakes will sometimes occur; and therefore a mode of changing the variety, or of introducing a branch of another variety, with great expedition, may possibly be acceptable to many readers of the Horticultural Transactions. The luxuriant shoots of peach and nectarine trees are generally barren; but the lateral shoots emitted in the same season by them are often productive of fruit, particularly if treated in the manner recommended by me in the Horticultural Transactions of 1808 *. In the ex periments I have there described, the bearing wood was afforded by the natural buds of the luxuriant shoots; but I thought it probable that such might as readily be afforded by the inserted buds of another variety, under appropriate management. I therefore, as early in the month of June, of the year 1808, as the luxuriant shoots of my peach trees were grown sufficiently firm to permit the operation, inserted buds of other varieties into them, employing two distinct ligatures to hold the buds in their places. One ligature was first placed above the bud inserted; and upon the transverse section through the bark the other, which had no farther office than that of securing the bud, was applied in the usual way. As soon as the buds (which never fail under the preceding circumstances) had attached themselves, the ligatures last applied were taken off, but the others were suffered to remain. The passage of the sap upwards was in consequence much obstructed, and the inserted buds began to vegetate strongly in July and when these had afforded shoots about four inches long, the remaining ligatures were taken off, to permit the excess of sap to pass on; and the young shoots were nailed to the wall. Being there properly exposed to light, their wood ripened well, and afforded blossoms in the succeeding spring; this would, I do not doubt, have afforded fruit; but that, leaving my residence at Elton for this place, I removed my trees, and the whole of their blossoms in the last spring proved, in consequence, equally abortive. An An Essay on the Mathematical Construction of a Plough, which shall offer the least resistance, and which shall turn a Furrow in the best Manner. By Mr. WILLIAM AMOS, Author of the Theory and Practice of Drill-husbandry; Minutes of Agriculture and Planting, &c. &c, With two Plates. From the COMMUNICATIONS to the BOARD OF 1. On the Mathematical Construction of a Plough, &c. As horses and oxen, employed in ploughing, arẻ compelled to answer the command of their managers, the managers ought therefore to know the limits of their powers, and the manner of employing them to the greatest advantage. Hence the construction of a plough, and the manner of harnessing and yoking them to it, become important objects to the husbandman's attention; and the mould-board being the most delicate part of a plough, it therefore demands our first consideration. On the Construction of a Mould-board. A mould-board may be considered as composed of two inclined planes, one acting in a perpendicular direction to raise the furrow, the other in a horizontal direction to turn it over; upon the proper form of the curve, which a combination of these inclined planes ought to make, the perfection of a plough depends, as the chief resistances are there met with, and must be overcome, From the property of inclined planes, when the length and height are given, the greater the length, the less the power. VOL. XVIII-SECOND SERIES. Z This This is the case in ploughs; therefore the longer the mould-board, the less is the power required to raise the furrow. But it is found that, for general use, a plough, from the share-point to the heel, should not exceed 36 inches; nor should it ever be less than 30: hence the average length will be 33. But I prefer the greatest length for all stiff soils. If eight inches are allowed for the solid part of the share, the mould-board should be. 27+3 = 30. The reason for adding three inches, is to make the tail of the mould-board at the top longer than at the bottom, by taking the three inches off the under edge of the tail diagonally to the hinder extremity at the upper edge. The height of the mould-board cannot be less than the breadth of the furrow, even upon sward land; but upon broken land it should be three or four inches higher, to prevent the earth from being thrown over the mould-board in waves, The width of the plough-sole should not be less than the breadth of the furrow; and the width at top is nearly double the width at bottom; as will be demonstrated hereafter. The proposed width and depth of the furrow must be given, as well as the length of the wooden part of the plough sole; for upon these points depend the dimensions of the block of wood, from which the mould-board is to be formed. A depth from three to six inches, and a width from eight to ten, are in practice the most general. From these preliminaries I will suppose the furrow to be nine inches wide, and six inches deep; and the length of the wooden part of the plough sole 27 inches long; then the block of wood, (Plate IX.) Fig. 1, must be 12 inches high from A to B, nine, inches wide at bottom from A to D, and the length B Q = 27+3 = 30 inches. The advantages gained in a mould-board of these dimensions are as much as its length exceeds its perpendicular height. And if the mould-board is made to be pressed in every point alike, and to wear no more in one part than in another, it will raise the furrow, and turn it over with less power than any other form. In order to obtain that form, and the curve, which a combination of the two inclined planes ought to make, the perpendicular height, and the horizontal width at top, must be equally divided by a diagonal line proceeding from the left hand lower corner of the fore part, to the right hand upper corner of the hind part, of the block of wood from which the mould-board is to be formed. The great advantages attending a mould-board of this form are,—that the land is ploughed in the best manner possible, and with the least loss of power; (the rise and twist being easiest toward the forepart of the share, where the greatest resistance obtains ;) and that the furrows are so laid, as to present the greatest surface possible to the influences of the sun and atmosphere, and to furnish the greatest quantity of mould for covering the seed. This method of constructing it may be executed by any person, and by a mathematical procedure so exact, that its form can never vary the breadth of an hair; and the execution of it is as easy as it is certain. But, however easy it may be to perform, when a person has once seen it done, yet a considerable degree of difficulty attends the description. But before I pro |