APPLES. 293 



made ready in the same way, may be grafted successfully. 

 By this mode, it will be seen that when the grafts are put in 

 the side-branches, they are not shaded by the heavy shoots 

 above them, and they have an unusual supply of nourishment 

 to carry them forward. Those who have attempted to graft 

 the whole head of a large tree at once are best aware of the 

 great difficulty in the common mode of getting the grafts to 

 take on the side-limbs. 



" One of these large trees so treated is probably more than 

 seventy-five years old, and has now an entirely new and 

 vigorous head, grafted with this excellent variety. When I 

 began with it, the fruit was only fit for cider, and it was ques- 

 tionable .whether the tree should not be cut down. By graft- 

 ing it in this manner, I have added surprisingly to its value. 

 Two years ago (the bearing year), I obtained from it ten 

 bushels of apples; last year eight bushels; and this year (only 

 six years from the time I began to graft it), I gathered twenty- 

 eight and a half bushels of excellent fruit ! 



"I consider. this tree now worth one hundred dollars; the 

 cost of grafting it was about five dollars ; and the latter was all 

 repaid two years ago the first season the grafts bore fruit." 



The bearing year of apple-trees which yield excessive crops 

 is only every alternate year; but by thinning out a large por- 

 tion of the fruit while yet small, the exhaustion will not be so 

 great as to render the tree barren the second season, and it 

 will bear annually. By picking off all the young fruit, the 

 bearing year may be entirely changed, or one bough may be 

 made to bear one year, and another bough 

 the second year. 



Depredators. The insect enemies of "the 

 apple have been already described. Mice, 

 which sometimes girdle and destroy young 

 trees, especially such as are neglected and 

 allowed to grow in grass, may be excluded 

 by a small mound of earth, thrown up about 



* FIG. 350. Mode of 



ten inches high around the stems late in Banking up Trees 

 autumn. This earth should be compact and to Protect from 

 smooth, and not consist of turf, which is 

 liable to cavities, instead of repelling the depredators. Fig. 

 350 shows the mode of performing this operation. If well 



