vice-president's report, third CONG. DISTRICT. 65 



large, handsome apples. Nearly every one of the Hibernals bore, 

 some of them nearly a bushel, after four years from setting. The 

 next best bearer v^as the Patten's Greening, and the next the 

 Wealthy. None of my Peerless trees gave any fruit, nor did the 

 Whitney, and but one of the Transcendents. The Hibernal proves 

 a low branching tree, which accounts for its prolific bearing qual- 

 ities, while the Peerless and Whitney are upright growers, which to 

 my mind proves their non-bearing qualities. My Whitneys grow 

 more the shape of a Lombardy poplar than an apple tree, and one 

 rod apart proves sufficient distance for them, while for most stand- 

 ard varieties it is too close. 



Each year I have extended my orchard until now it covers eight 

 acres. I shall increase it by several acres each spring. As to the 

 distance of setting standard apple trees apart, I have adopted 

 twenty-four feet for the rows and twenty feet in the rows. 



Raising apple trees from seed. I find it just as easy to raise 

 apple trees from seed as it is most any garden vegetable. Procure 

 your apple seed, native crab or Hibernal seed if you can, mix the 

 seed with damp sand and let them set out until thoroughly frozen ; 

 then set in cellar until early spring, when sow in drills in good, 

 rich soil. You can transplant them when two or three inches high 

 with perfect success. Transplanted into ground spaded deep and 

 enriched with cow manure, they will make a wonderful growth the 

 first year. 



Neiv method of top-grafting. A new and expeditious way of 

 top-grafting apple trees has been experimented with by me the 

 past season, which, I think, bids fair to become the most popular 

 way of changing varieties of bearing trees, viz. : In the month of 

 June or July, when the inside bark of the apple tree separates easily 

 from the wood, make an incision with a round-pointed knife through 

 the bark, some two or three inches long, at a point you wish to insert 

 a graft of another variety ; cross cut at the top and turn the corners 

 back ; select a scion of the longest growth from the tree you wish 

 to propagate ; strip off the leaves and cut it off square from four to 

 six inches from the top. With a sharp knife bevel off the large 

 end on one side, some two inches up, down to a point, and then in- 

 sert the scion under the bark where slit, and crowd down until 

 the bark presses the scion tightly to the wood and inner bark. It is 

 claimed that ninety per cent of such so-called bark-grafting wilt 

 grow without string or wax. 



