The minor details of shield-budding differ with nearly every operator. In commercial practice, it is performed in the north from early July until the middle of September. In the southern states it usually begins in June. As a rule, apples and pears are budded before peaches. This is due to the fact that peach-stocks are nearly always budded the same season the pits are planted, and the operation must be delayed until the stocks are large enough to be worked. Most other fruit-stocks, especially apples and pears, are not budded until two years after the seeds are sown. The plants grow for the first season in a seed-bed. The next spring they are transplanted into nursery rows, and budded when they become large enough, which is usually the same year they are transplanted. The nurseryman reckons the age of his stock from the time of transplanting, and the age of the marketable tree from the time when the buds or grafts begin to grow. The young stocks are "dressed" or trimmed before being set into the nursery. This operation consists in cutting off a fourth or third of the top and the tap root. This causes the roots to spread and induces a vigorous growth of top because it reduces the numbers of shoots; and such stocks are more expeditiously handled than long and untrimmed ones. Stocks should be at least three-eighths inch in diameter to be budded with ease. Just before the buds are set, the leaves are removed from the base of the stock so that they will not interfere with the operation. They are usually rubbed off with the hand for a space of five or six inches above the ground. They should not be removed more than two or three days in advance of budding, else the growth of the parts will be checked and the bark will set; any branches, too, as in the quince, which might impede the work of the budder, are to be cut off at the same time. The bud is inserted an inch or two above the surface of the ground or as low down as the budder can work. The advantage of setting the bud low is to bring the resulting crook or union where it will not be seen. It is a common and good practice, also, to place the bud upon the north side of the stock to shield it from the sun. [Illustration: Fig. 62. A stick of buds.]