PROPAGATION OP THE APPLE. 531 



fruit of a violet colour, covered with* a bloom like that of the plum. 

 The Cherry crab is a spreading tree with drooping branches, and 

 numerous fruit about the size and colour of a large cherry. The 

 Supreme crab is a more erect tree than the Cherry crab, with larger 

 fruit. Big's Everlasting crab is a vigorous-growing, round-headed 

 tree, the fruit and leaves of which remain on long alter Christmas, in 

 sheltered situations. 



General Principles of selecting Varieties of the Apple. The first 

 requisite in forming a selection is to determine how far the climate, 

 soil, and situation, differ from those of the central counties of England, 

 which may be taken as those for which most of the selections above 

 given are adapted. A number of varieties, which may be grown as 

 standards in the centre or south of England, require a wall in various 

 parts of the north of England and of Scotland. The winter and 

 spring table apples may require a south wall in one district, while in 

 another they may attain equal maturity as standards or espaliers. 

 Where there is ample room, a selection of large sorts, as the Alexander 

 and Blenheim Pippin, or of such as are the most beautifully coloured, 

 as the Violet, Hol'andbury, &c., may be made to gratify the eye; 

 where room is wanting, useful sorts and great bearers are to be pre- 

 ferred such, indeed, as are enumerated in the above selection, which 

 has been made with a view to both quality and abundance of produce. 

 In general, small-sized fruit are to be preferred lor standards, as less 

 likely to break down the branches of the trees, or be shaken down by 

 winds; middling-sized and high-flavoured sorts for walls ; and the 

 largest of all for espaliers. Such sorts as the Calville Blanc depend 

 on walls, or the shelter of glass, in England, to bring them to the 

 highest excellence or full size. 



Propagation. The apple may be propagated by seeds, cuttings of 

 the branches or roots, by layers, suckers, inarching, grafting, or 

 budding ; but the two last modes are most generally adopted for con- 

 tinuing varieties, and seeds are seldom resorted to, except when new 

 varieties are the object. Only a few sorts, such as the Burknott, some 

 of the codlins, and the Creeping-apple, can be increased readily by 

 cuttings; but this mode is resorted to occasionally, when these kinds 

 are wanted as stocks for grafting on. Suckers from a grafted tree 

 should only be used as stocks ; but from kinds of apple which are used 

 chiefly as stocks, such as the Paradise apple, suckers are not an un- 

 common mode of propagation. Thus the first step in the propagation of 

 the apple by grafting or budding, is the propagation of the stock. Crab 

 stocks are raised from seeds of the wild crab, and are used when the 

 object is strong and durable trees; wildings or seedling apple stocks 

 are used for strong trees in good soils, and are raised from seeds of 

 apple-trees, most commonly of free-growing seedlings, which have 

 grown in hedges in cider counties, or from cider apples; dwarfing 

 stocks, such as the Paradise, Doucin, Creeping-apple, and some cod- 

 lins, are commonly raised from layers and suckers. Seedlings, after 

 one year's growth in the seed-bed, are transplanted in rows, three 

 feet apart and eighteen inches distance in the row ; and they are 



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