N UR 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



NUR 



175 



soils, though the trees do not nutke so great a progrees as 

 in moist, yet they are generally sounder, and more disposed 

 to fruitfulncss. 4- Observe to inclose it, that cattle and ver- 

 min may IK excluded; for they make sad havoc with young- 

 trees, particularly in winter, when the ground is covered 

 with snow, and they have little other food which they can 

 come at. Some of the most mischievous, are hares and rab- 

 bits, which devour the bark, and soon destroy the trees. 

 The ground being inclosed, should be carefully trenched 

 about eighteen inches or two feet deep, provided it will allow 

 it; this should be done in August or September, that it may 

 be ready to receive young stocks at the season for planting, 

 which is commonly in the middle or end of October. In 

 trenching the ground, be careful to cleanse it from the roots 

 of all noxious weeds, such as Couch-grass, Docks, &c. which, 

 if left iu the ground, will get in among the roots of the trees, 

 so as not to be gotten out afterwards, and will spread and 

 overrun the ground, to the great prejudice of your young 

 stocks. After having dug the ground, and the season being 

 come for planting, you must level down the trenches as equal 

 as possible, and then lay out the ground into quarters pro- 

 portionable to the size thereof, and those quarters may be 

 laid out in beds for the sowing of seeds, or the stones of fruit. 

 The best sorts of stocks for Peaches, Nectarines, &c. are 

 such as are raised from the stones of the Muscle and White 

 Pear Plumb, but you should never plant suckers of these, 

 C which is what 'some people practise,) for they seldom make so 

 good stocks, nor are ever well-rooted plants; besides, they 

 are very subject to produce great quantities of suckers from 

 their roots, which are very troublesome in the borders or 

 walks of a garden, and greatly injure the tree ; so that you 

 should annually, or at least every other year, sow a few 

 stones of each, that you may never be at a loss for stocks. 

 For Pears, you should have such stocks as have been raised 

 from the kernels of the fruit where perry has been made, 

 or else preserve the seeds of some sorts of summer pears, 

 which generally shoot strong and vigorous, as the Cuisse 

 Madame, Windsor, &c. but when this is intended, the fruit 

 should be suffered to hang upon the trees till they drop, and 

 afterwards permitted to rot; then take out the kernels and 

 put them in sand, being careful to keep them from vermin, 

 as also to place them where they may not grow damp, which 

 will make them mouldy. These should be sown for stocks 

 early in the spring, upon a bed of good light fresh earth, 

 where they will come up in about six weeks, and, if kept 

 clear from weeds, will be strong enough to transplant in Octo- 

 ber following. But for many sorts of summer and autumn 

 Pears, Quince stocks are preferable to free stocks, that is, 

 Pear stocks. These are generally used for all the sorts of 

 soft melting Pears, but they are not so good for the breaking 

 Pears, being apt to render those fruits which are grafted upon 

 them atony ; these are very often propagated from suckers, 

 which are generally produced in plenty from the roots oi 

 old trees; but those are not near so good as such as are pro- 

 pagated from cuttings or layers, which have always much 

 better roots, and are not so subject to produce suckers as 

 die other; which is a very desirable quality, since these 

 suckers do not only rob the trees of great part of their 

 nourishment, but are very troublesome in a garden. Apples 

 are grafted or budded upon stocks raised from seeds which 

 come from the cider press, or upon Crab-stocks, the latter 

 of which are esteemed for their durableness, especially for 

 large standard trees; these should be raised from seeds, as 

 the pear-stock, and must be treated in the same manner, for 

 those procured from suckers, &c. are not so good : the Para- 

 dise stock has been greatly esteemed for small gardens; 

 80. 



eing of very humble growth, causes the fruit trees grafted or 

 ludcled thereon to bear very soon, and they may be kept in 

 mall compass ; but they are only proper for very small gar- 

 dens, or by way of curiosity, since the trees thus raised are 

 iut of short duration ; and seldom arise to any size to produce 

 ruit in quantities, unless the graft or bud be buried in 

 lanting, so that they put forth roots ; and then they will be 

 equal to trees grafted upon free stocks, since they receive 

 ut small advantage from the stock. For Cherries, stocks 

 hould be raised from the stones of the common Black or the 

 Wild Honey Cherry, both of which are strong free growers, 

 and produce the cleanest stocks. For Plums, you may use 

 the stones of most free-growing sorts; which will also do 

 ery well for Apricots, these being less difficult to take than 

 Peaches and Nectarines; but these ought not to be raised 

 Vom suckers, for the reason before assigned, but from stones. 

 There are some persons who recommend the Almond stock 

 or several sorts of tender Peaches, upon which they will 

 take much better than upon Plum stocks ; but these beinj 

 tender in their roots, and apt to shoot early in the spring, 

 and being also of short duration, are by many people rejected ; 

 mt such tender sorts of Peaches which will not take upon 

 Plum stocks, should be budded upon Apricots, upon which 

 they will take very well ; and all sorts of Peaches which are 

 planted upon dry soils, will continue much longer, and not 

 be so subject to blight, if they are upon Apricots ; for it is 

 observed, that upon such soils where Peaches seldom do 

 well, Apricots will thrive exceedingly, which may be owing 

 to the strength and compactness of the vessels in the Apri- 

 cots, which render it more capable of assimilating, or drawing 

 its nourishment from the Plum stock, which in dry soils 

 seldom afford it in great plenty to the buds ; and the Peach- 

 tree being of a loose and spongy nature, is not so capable 

 of drawing its nourishment therefrom, which occasions that 

 weakness which is commonly observed in those trees when 

 planted on a dry soil; therefore it is the common practice 

 of the nursery gardeners, to bud the Plum stock either with 

 Apricots or some free-growing Peach; and after these have 

 grown a year, they bud the tender sorts of Peaches upon 

 these shoots : by which method many sorts succeed well, 

 which in the common way will not thrive, or scarce keep 

 alive ; and the gardeners call these Double-worked Peaches, 

 The budding and grafting of Cherries upon stocks of th 

 Cornish and Morello Cherry, produces the same effect as 

 the Paradise stock upon Apples. Having provided young 

 stocks of all these different sorts, which should be raised in 

 the seminary the preceding year, they must be transplanted 

 into the nursery in October. If intended for standards, they 

 should be planted three feet and a half or four feet row from 

 row, and at a foot and half distance in the row; but if for 

 dwarfs, three feet row from row, and one foot in the row, 

 will be a sufficient distance. In taking these stocks out of 

 the se.ed-beds, you must raise the ground with a spade, in 

 order to preserve the roots as entire as possible; then with 

 your knife prune off all the very small fibres; and if there 

 be any which have a tendency to root downright, such roots 

 should be shortened: having thus prepared the plants, draw 

 a line across the ground intended to be planted, and with 

 your spade open a trench thereby exactly straight, into 

 which place them at the distance before mentioned, setting 

 them exactly upright, and then put the earth in close to 

 them, filling up the trench, and with your foot press the 

 earth gently to the roots of them, observing not to displace 

 them so as to make the rows crooked, which will render 

 them unsightly: these plants should by no means be headed 

 or pruned at top, which will weaken them, and cause them 

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