50 THE APPLE CULTURES?. 



as a carrot-bed, run a crowbar down four feet into the 

 earth where each tree is to stand, make a large hole, fill it 

 with rich soil, and plant two or three seeds about one inch 

 deep. Stick the seeds point downward, so that they will 

 come up without difficulty. Cover them with fine loam. 

 The seeds should not be planted more than one inch apart. 

 If they all grow, the best stem only should be allowed to 

 stand. A strong stake should be driven into the ground 

 before the seeds are planted ; and the seeds should be stuck 

 in about six inches from the stake, on the south side. The 

 object of the stakes is to protect the young trees. If the 

 soil is sufficiently fertile to yield fair crops of grain or po- 

 tatoes, the tap-root of every young tree will strike four feet 

 into the earth the first season ; and the tops " will grow 

 like sparagrass and spread like applesas." 



As soon as the young trees are large enough, they should 

 be inoculated with buds taken from the topmost branches 

 of trees that always bear a bountiful crop. If the land be 

 kept clean, and if the surface or coronal roots are not mu- 

 tilated and torn from the stump, every tree, at the end of 

 ten years, will have attairied a height of over twenty feet, 

 and will be loaded with fruit ; while many ordinary nursery- 

 trees, planted in the usual manner, will never yield a fail- 

 crop. If an orchard is produced in this manner and re- 

 ceives proper care, the trees will yield bountiful crops for a 

 hundred years. (See illustrations, p. 22.) 



Why every Farmer should produce his own Trees. When 

 a person purchases an apple-tree, he has no assurance that, 

 if it ever produces fruit, the product will be the variety 

 that he bargained for. Neither has he any assurance that, 

 if the tree bears, it will yield even one-fourth part of a crop. 

 Stocks of young trees are often produced from the poorest 

 seeds of a very poor growing tree, a shy bearer, and a worth- 

 less variety. Then, if the cions of a shy bearer and a ten- 



