126 GATHERING AND PRESERVING APPLES, 



fully. By this mode, it will be seen that when the grafts 

 are put in on the side branches, they are not shaded by the 

 heavy shoots above them, and they have an unusual supply 

 of nourishment to carrry them forward. Those who have 

 attempted to graft the whole head of a large tree at once, 

 are best aware of the great difficulty in the common mode 

 of getting the grafts to take on the side limbs. 



" One of these large trees so treated, is probably more than 

 75 years old, and has now an entirely new and vigorous 

 head, grafted with this excellent variety. When I began 

 with it, the fruit was only fit for cider, and it was question- 

 able whether the tree should not be cut down. By grafting 

 it in this manner, I have added surprisingly to its value. 

 Two years ago, (the bearing year,) I obtained from it 10 

 bushels of apples ; last year eight bushels, and this year, 

 (only six years from the time I began to graft it,) I gathered 

 28J bushels of excellent fruit ! 



"I consider this tree now worth $100 ; the cost of grafting 

 it was about $5; and the latter was all repaid two years 

 ago the first season the grafts bore fruit." 



The bearing year of apple trees which yield excessive crops, 

 is only every alternate year ; but by thinning out a large 

 portion of the fruit while yet small, the exhaustion will not 

 be so great as to render the tree barren the second season, 

 and it will bear annually. By picking off all the young 

 fruit, the bearing year may be entirely changed, or one 

 bough may be made to bear one year, and another bough 

 the second year. 



GATHERING AND PRESERVING. 



It is of great consequence in gathering all kinds of fine 

 fruit, to avoid bruising ; the high quality of some sorts is 

 nearly destroyed by carelessness, and they are rendered 

 unfit for home use or for market. Hence careful hand 

 picking becomes indispensible. 



Preserving in barrels is usually most convenient. They 

 should be filled sufficiently to cause a slight pressure when 

 the barrel head is put in, to prevent rattling ; and the bar- 

 rels should rest on their sides and not on the ends. Winter 

 fruit has been preserved with great success and with much 

 freshness, by alternating the layers of apples in the barrel 



