THE APPLE TREE ] 257 



from the rootstock. These suckers if too close to the 

 surface of the ground, or above it, are earthed up 

 in spring, and they fail not to emit roots. They are 

 allowed to grow for two or three years, so that when 

 transplanted they make nice strong plants for immediate 

 use in the orchard. Suckers are produced more profusely 

 on the moist clayey soils in which the apple delights, 

 and are sometimes thrown up from the roots at some 

 distance from the stem. Indeed a ready method to 

 obtain suckers consists in severing a few roots, i to 

 2 c.m. in diameter, and turning up the severed end 

 of each root just above the ground, and it never fails 

 to form adventitious buds and to throw up one or two 

 strong suckers in the course of spring or summer. 

 The suckers are removed from the mother tree or 

 transplanted in winter, and if strong enough they are 

 immediately transferred to their final destination, but 

 if too small or weak they should be planted out in 

 the nursery, where they are well tended for a year 

 or two, and then if not required in the orchard, may be 

 sold out as young trees. 



One of the advantages of growing apples on their 

 own roots is that the suckers thrown up around the 

 tree, of course reproduce the variety to which the 

 mother plant belongs, and at least in this Island, apple 

 trees reproduced by suckers are as vigorous and as 

 productive as budded or grafted trees. If it is well 

 provided with rootlets the sucker will establish itself 

 at once in its new home, but those suckers which 

 happen to have only one or two thread-like roots, or 

 which are lifted with only a bit of a large root, will 

 not fail to establish themselves if they are properly 

 watered in the first year following their removal. 



The apple may be planted at any time from 



October to February or early in March, but is best 



planted in October or November when the soil has 



been well moistened by the rains of autumn. The 



17 



