230 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



so you see you are always on the track of new things. 

 As it will take several years for apple seeds to develop 

 into bearing trees, you can meanwhile be at work 

 with rose seeds or with plum stones, or with the 

 seeds of any bush or shrub, and my word for it you 

 will develop some fine things. Label everything 

 that you plant, with stakes in which you have inserted 

 bits of zinc on which you write with a pencil. 



Everywhere novelties and improved varieties are 

 finding their way in spite of the number that are de- 

 stroyed. In Florida we have recently obtained a 

 nearly seedless grapefruit and an orange with hon- 

 eyed sweetness. In the North we are guided by the 

 fact that Nature manages to produce something 

 choice in fence corners and out of the way places. 

 This was the way we got the Seckel pear and the Con- 

 cord grape. 



Right alongside your seed beds, have an equally 

 well prepared plot for starting cuttings. Almost all 

 our fruits and shrubs can be propagated in this man- 

 ner, but more particularly grapes, figs, mulberries, 

 and quinces. Make the cuttings from one foot to 

 two feet in length and insert them two-thirds in the 

 soil, pressing it very tight about them. In a few 

 years you will have all the trees and vines that you 

 need to plant or sell or give away. 



Still one more plot, and it should be a tidy little 

 place, where you create a nursery. This differs from 

 the plots already described, because here you grow 

 young trees or bushes that you have collected and put 



