644, 



POMACES. X. Pyrus. 



w 



per for a nursery. Some have preferred a very poor, and others derate sized stocks is the whip or tongue method, or the new 



a very rich soil; and both perhaps are almost equally wrong, mode of saddle-grafting adopted by Mr. Knight ; and the genie- 



The advocates for the poor soil appear to me to have been mis* ral time for the apple is in the end of February and the greater 

 led by transferring the feelings of animals to plants, and infer- 



March. Much 

 Ting that a change from want to abundance must be agreeable guiding principle is to make choice of the time when the sap 

 and beneficial to both. But plants in a very poor soil become of the stock is in full motion, while that of the scions, from 

 stunted and unhealthy, and do not readily acquire habits of having been previously cutoff and placed in the shade, is less 

 vigorous growth when removed from it. In a soil which has so. The common season for budding the apple is July, and 

 been highly manured the growth of young apple trees is ex- 

 tremely rapid, and their appearance, during 2 or 3 years, gene- 

 rally indicates the utmost exuberance of health and vigour. 



there is nothing peculiar to this tree in performing that opera- 

 tion. 



grafted 



" It has been 



These are, however, usually the forerunners of disease, and the recommended," Knight observes, " to remove grafted trees 



* canker's desolating tooth' blasts the hopes of the planter. In once or twice during the time they remain in the nursery, under 



choosing the situation for a nursery, too much shelter or expo- the idea of increasing the number of their roots, but I think this 



sure should be equally avoided, and a soil nearly similar to that practice only eligible with trees which do not readily grow when 



in which the trees are afterwards to grow should be selected transplanted. I have always found the growth of young apple 



where it can be obtained. Pasture ground or unmanured mea- trees to be much retarded, and a premature disposition to blos- 



dow should be preferred to old tillage, and a loam of moderate som to be brought on by it ; and I could not afterwards observe 



those trees which had been twice removed grow better than 

 others. It has also been supposed that many small roots, pro- 

 ceeding immediately from the trunk, are in the future growth 

 of the tree to be preferred to a few which are large ; but as the 

 large roots of necessity branch into small, which consequently 

 parent stock during the winter, and not later than the end of extend to a greater distance, the advantages of more transplan- 

 the preceding year ; for if the buds have begun to vegetate in tations than from the seed-bed to the nursery, and thence to the 



the smallest degree, and they begin with the increasing influence garden or orchard, may reasonably be questioned." 



The 



strength, and of considerable depth, to all other soils." (Treat. 

 on Appl. and Pear.) 



Grafting. — The first business is to select the scions. At 

 whatever season scions are to be inserted, Mr. Knight observes, 

 *' the branches which are to form them should be taken from the 



of the sun, the vigour of the shoots, during the first season, will 



/ 



be diminished, and the grafts will not succeed with equal cer- first thing an inexperienced gardener has to do is to consider the 



tainty ; though a graft of the apple tree very rarely fails, unless various uses of the apple, and then determine what is wanted, 



by accidental injury or great want of skill in the operator, according to family, market, or other purpose to be supplied; 



The amputated branches must be kept alive till wanted, by the next thing is to consider how those wants are to be supplied 



having the end of eacli planted in the ground a few inches deep in his given soil, situation, and circumstances ; and the last thing 



in a shady situation." Stocks destined to form standard trees is to study the catalogue of sorts, and to select accordingly- 



may either be grafted at the usual height at which the lateral Another source of choice is, as may respect the soil, situation, and 



branches are allowed to diverge, which is commonly six feet, or climate of the garden or orchard, in which they are to be planted, 



they may be grafted near the ground, and a single shoot trained or the character, whether of dwarfs, espahers, or wall-trees, which 



from the grafts, so as to form the stem of the tree. The pro- they are to assume there. The winter and spring table apples may 



priety of grafting near the ground or at the height of six or seven 

 feet, will depend on the kind of fruit to be propagated, whether 



require a south wall in one district, while in another they may 

 attain equal maturity as standards or espaliers. Where there is 



be 



it be quite new, and just beginning to bear, or a middle-aged ample room a selection of large sorts, as the Alexander and Bal- 

 variety. In new and luxuriant varieties, and these only should timore apples, or of such as are the most beautifully coloured, as 

 be propagated, it will be advantageous to graft when the stocks the violet^ carnation^ &c. may be made to gratify the eye ; or 

 are three years old, as the growth of such will be more rapid, 

 smooth, and upright than that of the crah, and there will be 

 no danger of their being injured by beginning to bear too early. 

 ** Middle-aged varieties will be most successfully propagated by 

 planting stocks of six or seven feet high, and letting them re- 

 main ungrafted till they become firmly rooted in the places in 

 which the trees are to stand. One graft only should be inserted 



preferred, as the golden and ribston pippin, summer pearmainy 

 codlinSf grey russet, summer and winter Calvilles, &c- In general 

 small sized fruit, as the Harveys and Granges, are to be pre- 

 ferred for standards, as less likely to break down the branches 

 of the trees, or be shaken down by winds, middling sorts lor 

 walls and dwarfs, and the largest of all for espaliers- In respect 



in each stock ; for when more are used they are apt to divide to a soil liable to produce canker, sorts raised from cuttings 



when loaded with fruit, and to cleave the stock, having no may be desirable, as the Burhnott and codling tribe ; and where 



natural bond or connexion with each other. When the stocks • « - - < , . . . .\ :« o«/» as 

 are too large for a single scion, I would recommend that the 



grafts be inserted in the branc]>es, and not in the principal stem." 



come into immediate bearing, as the Burknotts and others uoxa 

 ..,..: .1 .1.- Hawthorndean, Aptus'sapplr — ^ -^^'^'' ^^o^^' 



Ha 



This practice Is not uncommon in various parts of England, and lived dwarf sorts on Paradise or creeping stocks, rnay deserve 

 in general use in Germany with free stocks, where, however, they the preference. On the contrary, where a plantation is made 

 often neglect to graft the trees, and thus, as Mr. Neill observes, on freehold property, or with a view to posterity, new varieties 

 produce an endless variety of sorts, some good, but most of on crah or free stocks should always be chosen, as the Grange^ 

 them little better than craft*. Stocks intended to form half stand- Ingestrie, Harvey, &c. Some excellent sorts will grow and 

 ards are grafted at tl^ree or four feet from the ground, and 

 those for dwarfs at eight or ten inches or lower. Miller and 

 Knight agree in recommending to graft near the ground, where 

 lasting and vigorous trees are wanted ; but the practice of the 

 continental gardeners, and the opinions of some in this country, 

 are In favour of leaving a stem below the graft of not less than a 

 foot in length. A kind of grafting generally adopted for mo- 



Ribston pippin ; the latter of which, Nicol says, will grow ai 

 John O'Groat's house, and may be planted In Cornwall ; others 

 are shy bearers in cold situations, as the Nemtonn pippin o 

 America, &c. 



Choice of plants for planting. — This depends in some degree 

 on the object in view, the richness of the soil, and the shelter. 



