24 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



Apple trees should be kept from their first growth pruned in such a 

 manner as to spread very much, rather than to run up ta]l ; they 

 should be cleared from limbs which stop and choke out the free cir- 

 iiulation of the air. From May to November, manure enough to 

 smother and kill the grass, should be put about the stems of the young 

 trees ; but after the beginning of November, it should carefully be 

 removed, as the field mice would otherwise gnaw the bark, and spoil 

 the trees. 



All good apples, and many of the common kinds, are produced by 

 the process termed grafting. This is performed by inserting young 

 twigs or shoots from trees bearing fine fruit into stocks of inferior kinds, 

 raised upon every farm, from the pomace of the cider-mill. Crab- 

 stocks are thought to answer best in England, but all kinds are made 

 use of in the United States. The branches formed by the twig inserted 

 are found to bear fruit corresponding in quality to the tree from which 

 it was cut. The same process is pursued with all other kinds of fruit- 

 trees ; for inoculated or ingrafted fruit is always found to be the best. 



The kinds of apples most highly prized in all countries are the 

 varieties of pippin. The pippins of New York, New Jersey and 

 Pennsylvania are the richest in flavor of any apples known in the U. 

 States ; while the greening, the pearmain, and gilliflower, are the 

 best fruit of New England ; and the varieties of russet- apple the most 

 lasting, being often found in a good condition at midsummer of the 

 next year. Among the more recent varieties are Early Harvest, 

 Baldwin, Summer Rose, Summer Pearmain, Seek-no-further, Lady 

 Apple, Wine Apple, Bellflower, Vandevere, Nonsuch, Early Straw- 

 berry, Red Astracan, Gravenstein and Porter. The common family 

 uses of the apple are too familiar to need specification ; but its most 

 important application is to the manufacture of cider. The process 

 for making the best cider is simple ; perhaps quite as much so as any 

 mode of spoiling it. They should be ground in a mill till they are 

 entirely bruised. They are afterwards allowed to stand a day or two 

 in open vessels or troughs, and then pressed between haircloths or 

 layers of clean straw ; the last is not so good, from absorbing and 

 wasting a portion of the juice. The liquor running from the press is 

 then received into a vat, or large casks, till it has fermented, when it 

 is drawn off, and placed in clean, tight barrels or casks, to stand till it 

 is fine and clear ; it is then racked off from the lees, and kept in casks 

 or bottled for use. A portion of brandy and a little flowers of sulphur 

 render it more pure, and less likely to grow hard and sour. 



APRICOT. A fruit of the phmi tribe, which grows wild in sev- 

 eral parts of Armenia, and was introduced into England about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century. Some consider the apricot the most 

 delicate of all our hardy fruits. For pastry, certainly none is more ex- 

 cellent. It is used for tarts, both green and ripe ; it is also preserved 

 with sugar in both these states, and is sometimes dried as a sweet-meat- 



