Rural School Leaflet 



177 



AN APPLE TREE 



Fig. I 



C. S. Wilson 



How to plant an apple tree. — The apple tree is bought from the nursery- 

 man in the fall or the spring. It should be two years old, and the variety 

 should be Northern Spy. The tree is planted in 

 the spring as soon as the ground can be worked. 

 Dig a round hole large enough to receive the 

 roots of the tree, and deep enough to plant the 

 tree three or four inches deeper than it was in 

 the nursery row. This will cover the bud and 

 crook near the base. When the hole is dug, 

 throw back into the bottom a few shovelfuls of 

 the good surface dirt; then place the tree in the 

 hole. Let one pupil hold the tree straight, while 

 others throw in the soil, at the same time work- 

 ing it between the roots with the fingers. Step 

 on the soil and tramp it down firmly. Fill the 

 hole up level with the surrounding surface. 



Budding. — This is such an interesting and im- 

 portant farm operation that every boy and girl shoiild know how to do 

 it. It is so simple, too, that one can learn it in a few minutes. 

 Think of changing the little apple trees in the orchard, or those that 

 come up in the fence row, to any variety of apple 

 you wish ! And this is exactly what budding is for. It is 

 to change the variety of a fruit, and this change can 

 be made on branches as small as a lead pencil or as large 

 as the thumb. 



The nurseryman buds the little trees in the nursery 

 row about two or three inches above the surface of the 

 ground, inserting a single bud in each tree. The friiit- 

 grower top-buds the trees he has set in the orchard the 

 spring before, inserting two or three buds in the main 

 stem of each tree about three feet from the groimd. 

 This is what you will do if you have planted a Northern 

 Spy tree in the spring. 



Plan to bud the tree in August. At this time the bark 



peels readily. It would peel in ^the spring also, but then 



the flow of sap is so great that the little bud would be 



drowned or forced out of the bark. Later in the fall than August the 



bark becomes so dry that it will not peel. 



32 



Fig. 



