No. 85,J 295 



flowers with scissors, and fertilizing the remaining pistils with the 

 pollen from other selected sorts. In the United States, the northern 

 portion of which is much more favorable to the growth of the apple 

 than England, the number is probably still greater. The different 

 nurseries in this country, for the last twenty years, have probably ad- 

 vertised not less than two thousand. And yet the whole number of 

 those extensively known in our markets as the most valuable or most 

 popular, embracing perhaps three-quarters of all the grafted fruit 

 sold, would not exceed twelve or fifteen varieties. 



PROPAGATION. 



There are various modes of propagating the apple, including by 

 seeds, by budding and grafting, by cuttings, by suckers, and by layers. 



Where seeds alone are used for raising trees, and not for. stocks to 

 bud or graft, it must be familiar to most persons, that little reliance 

 can be placed on the character or quality of the fruit produced. As 

 a general rule, however, there is a resemblance between the new and 

 the old fruit, which is often very close, and frequently also quite re- 

 mote. Where seeds of fine sorts are planted, very few may be ex- 

 pected to possess much of the fine quality of the original, the tenden- 

 cy being to descend, or deteriorate from the highlv improved state 

 which the best varieties have attained. Hence nearly all the apples 

 so abundant in our State, known as " natural fruit," are of quite a 

 worthless character. And hence, too, the necessity of the true and 

 unvarying modes of increasing the trees by budding and grafting. 



It may be unnecessary in this short essay to give directions for per- 

 forming these operations, they being familiar to nearly all cultivators; 

 but certain requisites for success should be well understood. But, 

 first, the best modes of raising the stocks should perhaps be pointed 

 out. 



These should in all cases be from seed. Pomace from the cider- 

 mill, may be thickly sown in drills on very rich soil ; mixing with 

 ashes before sowing, appears to have a good effect, by neutralizing 

 the acid, which otherwise tends to injure the soil temporarily, and 

 retard the growth of the young trees. A neater mode, is to wash 

 out the seeds from the pomace before planting, as in that case they 

 can be more evenly sown. This work should all be done in autumn, 

 or if from the danger of mice or other causes, the planting is deferrd 



