POMACES. X. PYRUS. 



643 



to be chosen from young wood of horizontal or oblique branches, 

 rather than from upright ones; from six to eight inches or more 

 in length, witli a small portion of old wood at the lower end. 

 Cut oft' the tip of the shoot, and all the buds, excepting two or 

 three next the tip or upper extremity ; then smooth the sections 

 at the lower end, and insert three or four inches in sandy 

 loam, pressing the earth firmly to them, watering and covering 

 them with a hand-glass. The proper time for this operation is 

 early in February, and the glass should not be touched, except- 

 ing to give water, till the shoots have sprung an inch or two. 

 Shade during the mid-day sun, and begin to harden by giving 

 air in July ; finally, remove the glass in August, and in October 

 transplant to nursery rows, or in pots according to future inten- 

 tion. With the Burknott all that is necessary is to plant the 

 cuttings in a shady border, and treat them like those of the 

 gooseberry or currant. 



By layers. -The success of this mode of propagation may be 

 considered as certain ; but it has nothing peculiar in its applica- 

 tion to the apple. The after treatment of the plants is the 

 same with that for those originated by the following or fore- 

 going modes. 



By suckers. This mode is generally confined to the Paradise 

 and creeping apple for stocks. 



By grafting and inoculation. This may be said to be the 

 universal practice in propagating the apple. The first consi- 

 deration is the choice of stocks ; of these there are five sorts in 

 common use ; seedling apples, used for full standards and 

 riders or wall standards ; seedling crabs, for standards and half 

 standards ; codling apples, from layers or cuttings for dwarfs 

 and espaliers ; Paradise apples, from layers or cuttings for low 

 dwarfs and trained trees ; creeper apples, from layers or cuttings 

 for the best dwarfs or bushes. 



Stocks of seedling ajiples. The seeds should be selected from 

 the fruit of vigorous growing young or middle-aged healthy 

 trees ; but when wanted in larger quantities they are procured 

 from cider makers ; private propagators will adopt the first 

 mode. The sowing and after treatment is the same as for seed- 

 ling crabs. 



Seedling crabs. " A preference," Mr. Knight observes, " has 

 generally and justly been given to apple stocks raised from seed 

 of the native kind or crab, as being more hardy and durable than 

 those produced from the apple. The offspring of some varieties 

 of the crab, particularly of those introduced from Siberia, vege- 

 tate much earlier in the spring than other trees of the same 

 genus ; and hence the inexperienced planter will probably be led 

 to suppose that such stocks would accelerate the vegetation of 

 other varieties in the spring, and tend to produce an early ma- 

 turity of the fruit in autumn. In this, however, he will be dis- 

 appointed. The office of the stock is, in every sense of the 

 word, subservient, and it acts only in obedience to the impulse 

 it receives from the branches ; the only qualities, therefore, 

 which are wanting to form a perfect stock are vigour and hardi- 

 ness." 



Seed sowing and culture. In collecting the seeds to sow, it 

 must be remembered that the habits, as well as the diseases, of 

 plants are often hereditary, and attention should be paid to the 

 state of the tree from which seeds are taken ; it should be large 

 and of free growth, and rather in a growing state than one of 

 maturity or decay. The crab trees, which stand in cultivated 

 grounds, generally grow more freely, and attain a larger stature 

 than those in hedges or woods, and therefore appear to claim 

 preference. The seed should be taken from the fruit before it 

 is ground for vinegar, and sown in beds of good mould an inch 

 deep. From these the plants should be removed in the follow- 

 ing autumn to the nursery, and planted in rows at three feet 

 distance from each other, and 18 inches between each plant. 



Being here properly protected from cattle and hares, they may 

 remain till they become large enough to be planted out, the 

 ground being regularly worked and kept free from weeds. Rev. 

 J. Venables (Hort. soc. trans, vol. 1. ser. 2. p. 39.) has never 

 found a satisfactory reason why the pips of the best apples should 

 produce most frequently trees little better than the crab, while 

 other products of our gardens are not deteriorated from the parent 

 stock. It would seem that much of the peculiar flavour of fruit 

 depends upon the leaf, and whatever determines the first organi- 

 zation of this member of the tree, must have considerable in- 

 fluence on its produce. In the growth of those seeds furnished 

 with albumen, the albumen is converted into a substance resem- 

 bling sugar, and this saccharine material affords the first nourish- 

 ment to the growing plant, and supports it till the radicles spread 

 and are enabled to draw a supply of aliment from the earth ; but 

 as the apple pip is destitute of albumen, we may easily discover 

 the source from which this deficiency is to be supplied. It was 

 evidently intended that the apple itself decaying on the ground, 

 and enriching the soil around the pips with its saccharine juices, 

 should supply the young tree with its earliest nutriment. When, 

 therefore, we separate the pips from the apple for the purpose 

 of sowing, we deprive the seedling of a material part of its ap- 

 propriate nourishment, and consequently raise a tree in no way 

 resembling the qualities of its parent. We have no account of 

 the manner in which the best apples and pears were raised in the 

 15th and 17th centuries, and possibly the best fruits of those 

 days may have been a selection from numbers raised of an in- 

 ferior quality. It is probable that we owe some of our best 

 fruits more to the undisturbed production of nature than to the 

 operations of art. An apple has fallen from some tree, and lain 

 unobserved, the fruit has decayed on the spot, and enriched the 

 ground ; and, from the soil thus peculiarly prepared by nature, 

 has sprung up a tree, whose produce has proved of peculiar excel- 

 lence and flavour. According to the above theory, apples should be 

 sown instead of pips, or pips of one sort introduced into the fruit 

 of another, and then sown, or the ground manured with rotten 

 apples. The seedling from this mode of sowing will be more 

 likely to produce fruit of superior flavour than by sowing the 

 pips alone. 



Codling stocks are raised chiefly from layers, which at the end 

 of the season are taken off and planted in nursery rows, 2 feet 

 between the rows, and 1 foot from plant to plant. 



Paradise stocks, or as they are called by the French, Doucin 

 stocks, are raised from either layers or suckers ; and stocks raised 

 from creeping apples, so named from their aptitude to throw out 

 suckers, or the Dutch Paradise, chiefly from the latter mode. 

 They may be planted in nursery rows, somewhat closer than the 

 codling stocks. 



All stocks require to stand in the nursery till they are from 

 half an inch to an inch thick at the height at which they are to 

 be grafted ; such as are intended for full standards or riders 

 will, in general, require to grow three or four years before they 

 are fit for this operation ; those for half standards two years, and 

 those for dwarfs one year. The ground between them must be 

 kept clear of weeds, and stirred every winter ; the side shoots 

 of the plants, at least to the height at which they are intended 

 to be grafted, rubbed off as they appear, and all suckers care- 

 fully removed. Where budding is adopted, the stocks may be 

 worked at nearly half the diameter of stem requisite for graft- 

 ing ; and stocks for dwarfs, planted in autumn or spring, may 

 be inoculated the succeeding summer. No great advantage, how- 

 ever, is gained by this practice, as such plants require to stand 

 at least another year before they have produced their bud- 

 shoots. 



Soil and situation of the nursery. " A difference of opinion ap- 

 pears to have always prevailed respecting the quality of the soil pro- 

 4 N2 



