New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 335 



pit may be kept frozen so that the planting of the cuttings may 

 be delayed for some time after spring opens. 



Sometimes the cuttings are packed with sand in boxes and 

 kept in caves or cellars during the winter, but fall planting in 

 this section of the country is generally preferable. 



Cuttings should be planted in well drained, fertile soil, plowed 

 from ten to twelve inches deep and made thoroughly mellow. A 

 trench about eight inches deep is made with the spade against 

 the perpendicular side of which the cuttings are placed from one 

 and a half to two inches apart, having the top buds just above 

 the surface of the ground. A little earth is then thrown over 

 the bases of the cuttings and tramped very firmly. It is very im- 

 portant that the soil should be made very firm around the bases 

 of the cuttings, but this cannot be done if the trench is filled be- 

 fore any tramping is done. After the first layer of earth has 

 been tramped the trench is filled and tramped again. 



The cuttings which are planted in the fall should be com- 

 pletely covered when the ground begins to freeze to prevent 

 heaving by frost. Earth, coarse manure or some other mulch 

 may be used. When they are covered with earth there is more 

 danger of the cuttings being injured in uncovering them than 

 when they are covered with straw or manure. If the cuttings 

 are heaved or loosened by the frost the earth should be tramped 

 around them after the frost has left the ground in the spring. 

 , During the growing season the earth around the cuttings 

 should be kept loose and free from weeds by frequent cultiva- 

 tion. When the branches begin to start the lower ones should 

 be removed so as to leave the stem free from branches to a 

 height of about four inches from the ground. 



The plants are commonly grown in the nursery two years 

 before being planted in the place where they are to be fruited, 

 but the desirability of a plant is not to be determined by its 

 size, for strong one-year plants are far preferable to older scrub 

 stock even though the latter be much larger in size. 



