JUNE. 281 



with liquid manure, made with cow-dung steeped in water. 

 This will start the plants into vigorous growth, which must 

 be regulated by thinning the laterals with the view of en- 

 couraging the upright shoot. In the autumn of the second 

 year after planting out, all the seedlings noted as possessing 

 the most promising characters should be taken up and planted 

 in a soil more rich in humus, in rows 3| feet apart and three 

 feet from plant to plant in the row. The others, less promising, 

 are planted in a compartment by themselves. The seedling 

 must be pruned, disbudded, and pinched according to the prin- 

 ciples applicable to the pruning of standard pyramids, with this 

 difference, however, that in the second and third year after 

 planting, the shoots of the seedlings are left at greater length. 

 It will be understood that tall-stemmed pyramids are preferable 

 to dwarf-stemmed ones, because vigorous seedlings show their 

 first fruits on the upper part of the tree, and therefore it would 

 be perfectly useless to form a dwarf pyramid at an additional 

 expense of labor. There are, however, exceptions as regards 

 some seedlings, which show a disposition to form dwarf pyr- 

 amids, and should be managed accordingly. Successive 

 transplantations effected in the first instance at the end of 

 winter but afterwards at the fall of the leaf, induce the pro- 

 duction of fibrous roots, and accelerate the formation of fruit 

 buds. The roots, divided in proportion to the above-ground 

 ramifications of the seedling, maintain these in due propor- 

 tion ; but it has been remarked that the case is quite the con- 

 trary with seedlings not removed. 



The trees should be removed every two years, and re- 

 planted at wider distances, according to their growth, until 

 fruit spurs begin to form on the upper part of the leader, or 

 on the principal branches of the stem ; the leading shoots are 

 then left at greater length, and transplanting is no longer prac- 

 tised. Tn pruning off the branches of the stem up to six feet from 

 the ground, the spurs and some small branchlets only are left. 

 The crown is not allowed to commence below the heio-ht of 

 six feet, because, as has been frequently stated, a vio-orous 

 seedling only commences to bear above that height. It is 



VOL.. XXI. NO. VI. 36 



