520 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



collected more carefully, or bought of the seedsman , but we 

 recommend the purchase of a few bushels of pears. They can 

 be cut and dried, and when cutting them to dry t^e seeds can 

 I'eadily be saved. ^ ""■ 



Cherries should remain on the tree until perfectly ripe, then 

 put into tubs and the pulp washed off. All other things being 

 equal the autumn is the best time for planting all seeds. If 

 they are to 'be preserved until spring, they must be packed in 

 moist sand. They should be sown in drills three feet apart. 

 Cover oue inch deep with earth, and another inch with leaf 

 mould from the woods. 



These few precautions will secure you a vigorous growth of 

 shoots. 



For peaches, apricots, and nectarines, the stones should be 

 kept in layers of sand. Put a layer of sand in a box, then a 

 layer of stones, and expose them to the action of the frost 

 through the winter. They should be examined a fortnight 

 before planting time, and if they have not begun to crack, give 

 them a wetting ; if they do not open by planting time, crack 

 them on a wooden block with a wooden mallet. Fruit stones 

 should be planted^deeper than seeds, say three inches, and the 

 rows three feet apart as before, and covered with leaf mould. 

 This prevents evaporation, retains heat and moisture, and does 

 not exclude the air ; and heat, moisture, and air are the three 

 requisites of germination. These preparations are simple and 

 easily made, and will insure good stocks. 



Plum stocks must be gotten from horse plums, or some other 

 native species that reproduces itself from seed. Otherwise it is 

 to be treated the same as the other stone fruits. In all these 

 operations it should never be forgotten that one good vigorous 

 stock is worth five poor ones ; and the temptation to drop the 

 seed too closely, and thus crowd and stunt the plants, should be 



