Management of Orcliards. 19 



trees of little value ; and when these joung trees are planted 

 out, without a proper selection being made, their after-growth 

 exhibits great irregularity, and this accounts for the diversity to 

 be found in our orchards, in which many of the trees never 

 attain a sufficient height for being grafted. 



It may be taken as an established rule that the wild apple, or 

 crab, is the best stock to graft upon, alike for the formation of 

 the tree, and also for the keeping properties of the cider. The 

 proper way is to take some crab-apples, such as are used for 

 making vinegar, and partially grind them in a mill, taking care 

 not to crush the kernels ; the juice should then be pressed out 

 and the pulp spread out to dry, either in a granary or loft ; or 

 if the weather is fine, it may be dried in the open air. It is 

 important to select such crab-apples as are ripe, so as to secure 

 the proper germinati(m of the seed. 



After the pulp is well dried it should be stored in some dry 

 place till required for planting, care being taken to preserve it 

 from mice, which are very fond of the sweet kernels. 



Some persons prefer picking the kernels out of the crabs or 

 apples without the crushing : this is not material, so long as care 

 is taken to get ripe fruit selected, then to get the keinels dry, 

 and keep them from damp, or other injury. 



During the months of February, March, or April, some ground 

 should be prepared for the seed by being well cleaned and 

 manured. A sheltered plot in a garden is a good place, but a 

 piece of old turf which has been trenched up early in the winter 

 is far better. Upon the seed-bed thus prepared the kernels 

 should be strewed in drills 1 foot or 18 inches apart, and just 

 covered with earth ; when the must-refuse is used, it should be 

 well rubbed in the hand before being sown. 



2. Raising the Young Stock. 



Another plot of ground, either broken up pasture, as before 

 described, or land dressed with rotten farmyard-manure, should be 

 well prepared, and in open weather, soon after the leaves fall, the 

 young plants should lie removed to this plot, being placed in 

 rows 30 inches apart, and 12 inches between the plants, so that 

 the ground may be kept clean, and the young stocks attended to. 

 It is very important that this be done in open weather, for frost 

 is very injurious to the roots : any straggling roots may then be 

 trimmed, but it is better not to prune the top at this stage of the 

 growth, for, as the leaves are the lungs of the plant, every leaf is 

 now of consequence. After being thus planted out they should 

 be left till Midsummer, when the whole of the stocks should be 

 gone over, and any straggling branches or side-shoots should have 

 the end pinched off them : this will divert the sap up the main 



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