APP 



53 



APP 



14.— (P. 50.) 



It somewhat resembles the .^sopus 

 Spitzenburg. Colour bright red, deli- 

 cately streaked and marked by white 

 dots, which strongly characterize it. 

 Skin smooth ; flesh juicy and well 

 flavoured ; stem rather long, deeply 

 seated ; blossom end frequently more 

 pointed than in the drawing. 



Propagation by seed. — When it is in- 

 tended to raise stocks to be engrafted, 

 the only matter to be observed in se- 

 lecting the seed is, that it be from vigo- 

 rous healthy trees. Keep the seed in 

 sand, or earth moderately damp, during 

 autumn and winter, and sow quite early 

 in the spring, and in drills, so as to ad- 

 mit of more easy culture. The second 

 season the young stocks may be trans- 

 planted, and again the third season, 

 'each transplantation tending to secure 

 success on the final transfer to the or- 

 chard ground.) When three years old, 

 they will be, if well managed, stout 

 stocks, ready for grafting. 



Where the object is to produce new 

 varieties, select the^seed from favourite 

 fruits and sow as above directed. 



If it be the purpose to allow the seed- 

 lings to bear, 'they may be suffered to 

 remain where they have first grown, or 

 they may he transplanted to any other 

 position. But a more speedy method 



to reach results is to graft a shoot of 

 the seedling in a branch of a vigorous 

 tree. The second season fruit may be 

 obtained, especially if the shoot is bent 

 downwards, or inclined, so as to arrest 

 the free flow of sap, which would rather 

 tend to preserve wood than fruit. By 

 this means curiosity can be early satis- 

 fied, and those which prove worthless, 

 by far the larger portion, cast out as 

 cumberers of the ground. 



Mr. Knight states that " the width 

 and thickness of the leaf generally in- 

 dicates the size of the future apple, but 

 will by no means convey any correct 

 idea of the merits of the future fruit. 



" When these have the character of 

 high cultivation, the qualities of the 

 fruit w-ill be far removed from those of 

 the native species; but the apple may 

 be insipid or highly flavoured, green or 

 deeply coloured, and of course well or 

 ill-calculated to answer the purposes of 

 the planter. An early blossom in the 

 spring, and an early change of colour 

 in the autumnal leaf, would naturally 

 be supposed to indicate a fruit of early 

 maturity, but I have never been able to 

 discover any criterion of this kind on 

 which the smallest dependence may be 

 placed. The leaves of some varieties 

 will become yellow and fall otf, leaving 



