FRUIT CULTURE. 763 



of twelve feet and five inches. Another in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, is said to measure 

 seventeen and one-half feet in girth one foot above the ground, is fifty-four feet high, with 

 branches extending thirty-six feet each way from the trunk. No fruit is more abundantly 

 produced or generally liked than the apple, while it is exceedingly wholesome and nutritious. 

 The slight care required for its culture also renders it valuable. The earliest varieties ripen 

 towards the last of June, and the latest, when properly stored, can be preserved until that 

 time, so that with suitable varieties and good care, it is a fruit that may be had during the 

 entire year. 



Propagation. The usual mode of propagating apples is described by Mr. Downing 

 as follows: &quot;The apple for propagation is usually raised from seeds obtained from the pomace 

 of the cider mills, and a preference is always given to that from thrifty young orchards. 

 These are sown in autumn, in broad drills, in good mellow soil, and they remain in the seed 

 beds attention being paid to keeping the soil loose, and free from weeds from one to 

 three years, according to the richness of the soil. When the seedlings are a little more than 

 a fourth of an inch in diameter, they should be taken up in the spring or autumn, their tap 

 roots shortened, and then placed in nursery rows, one foot apart, and three to four feet 

 between the rows. If the plants are thrifty and the soil good, they may be budded the 

 following autumn, within one or two inches of the ground, and this is the most speedy mode 

 of obtaining strong, straight, thrifty plants. Grafting is generally performed when the stocks 

 are about half an inch thick. When young trees are feeble in the nursery, it is usual to 

 head them back two- thirds the length of the graft, when they are three or four feet high, to 

 make them throw up a strong, vigorous shoot. Apple stocks for dwarfs are raised by 

 layers. 



Apple trees for transplanting to orchards should be at least two years budded, and six 

 or seven feet high, and they should also have a proper balance of head or side branches.&quot; 



Soil, Site, etc., for Apple Orchards. Apple trees will thrive on a variety of 

 soils, but will not do well on the two extremes, viz. : on very dry sands, or soils saturated 

 with moisture. The soil that the apple seems to prefer most, and the one in which it attains 

 its highest degree of excellence, is a rich loam of a calcareous or limestone character. It has 

 been found that the best flavored fruit, the most abundant crops, and the longest lived trees 

 are produced from a deep, rich, gravelly, marshy, or clayey loam, or a strong, sandy loam on 

 a gravelly subsoil. Soils that are too damp may be rendered suitable for apple trees by 

 thoroughly underdraining. and those that are too dry by deep subsoil plowing, where the 

 subsoil is of a heavy or clayey nature. 



The site chosen for an orchard should depend upon the climate. In the Northern States 

 a southern or southeastern slope is to be preferred, thus securing the warmth of the sun to 

 ripen the fruit and wood, while a protection from the cold northwesterly winds is thus 

 partially afforded. In the Southern portions of the country, or where the climate is hot and 

 dry, apple orchards will be found to flourish best on the northern slope, where the trees will 

 be less exposed to the hot sun, and more moisture be derived from the soil. All young 

 orchards should have the soil kept mellow and loose by cultivation, at least for a few years, 

 until the trees become well established, and if the cultivation could be renewed every year 

 during the life of the trees it would well repay for the labor. When the plow is used, the 

 cultivation should be shallow, in order not to disturb the roots that lie near the surface. A 

 disc or acme harrow is excellent for this purpose. For information respecting the trans 

 planting, cultivation, and pruning of apple orchards, we refer the reader to general directions 

 on this subject already given in connection with fruit culture. 



Varieties. There are at present about three thousand named varieties of the apple, 

 while new ones are being constantly produced. Among the varieties most commonly pre- 

 VOL. II. 41 



