PROPAGATING APPLE-TREES. 21 



duce like. The stock of a grafted tree will exert a won- 

 derful influence on the productiveness of the bearing tree. 

 (See Glossary.) It can not be expected that the half-de- 

 veloped seed of a half-grown and half-ripened, small, knot- 

 ty, scabby, one-sided, worthless apple can ever produce a 

 fine and prolific tree. Is it possible for apple-seeds to im- 

 part certain prominent characteristics of excellence to the 

 future tree and fruit, which were never possessed by that 

 variety ? The truth is, that the best seeds must be select- 

 ed for fruit-trees, and the inferior kernels rejected, if we 

 would produce hardy and prolific trees. 



How Apple-seeds vegetate. An apple-seed germinates 

 like the kernels of leguminous plants, such as beans, clo- 

 ver, and flax. The embryo (Fig. 1) expands, 

 and a radicle appears at the pointed end of the 

 seed, which grows downward, as the stem is 

 formed upward. Instead of a spike being sent 

 to the surface of the ground, such as appears 

 from a kernel of cereal grain, the apple-seed is 

 thrust upward, on the end of the stem, through 

 the soil, to the surface of the ground. This Enlarged view 

 fact suggests the eminent importance of cover- ofau lpp 

 ing every seed with fine mould or mellow earth. 

 A covering of heavy clay will often become so compact 

 that the stem can not elevate the kernel to the surface. As 

 soon as the apple-seed appears above the surface of the 

 seed-bed, the kernel separates into two equal parts, each 

 portion being held by the stem ; and the two lobes assume 

 the form of leaves. Xhe accompanying illustration (Fig. 2, 

 p. 22) is a fair representation of a young apple-tree soon 

 after the kernel has appeared above the surface. 



There are several fundamental requirements to be ob- 

 served by the tiller of the soil, in order to effect the germi- 

 nation of apple-seeds. In the first place, a certain amount 



