344 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



hill, — homeward bound, — when, either by chance or design 

 on the part of some roguish one, the basket was upset ; and 

 then the lively chase to gather up the apples before they all 

 reached the foot of the hill. It does seem as though those 

 apples were superior in flavor to any of the improved varieties 

 of the present day. We well remember the early-sours, 

 sugar-sweets, striped-sweets, cat-heads, etc., which our youth- 

 ful tastes pronounced perfect, yet would now be ranked only 

 as third-rate apples. 



PROPAGATION. 



Thirty-five years ago, at the age of twelve years, I was en- 

 couraged by my father to commence raising and propagating 

 fruit-trees in our garden nursery, and it has been continued, 

 on a small scale, to the present time. Here I have learned 

 that stocks for the nursery should always be seedlings, and 

 grafted or budded, when about the size of the scion, or but a 

 little larger. Grafting on roots or suckers from old trees pro- 

 duce a stock of feeble constitution, early maturity and of little 

 value during its short life. Such stocks are more prolific in 

 throwing up suckers around their trunks than in yielding fruit. 

 Several such trees have passed away on our own farm, and 

 their places filled with others of stronger constitution. 



I have about 800 trees set on twenty acres of land, most 

 of which have been raised on the farm, and have been set 

 from ten to twenty years. A few were set in 1840. With a 

 slight exception, none of this land has been cultivated since 

 the trees were set. Before setting, the land was thoroughly 

 ploughed and enriched, and underdrained where necessary ; 

 cleared of loose stone and seeded to grass, bushed and rolled ; 

 after which the stakes were set two rods apart each way, and 

 holes dug, as hereafter described. These lands have been 

 mowed ever since the orchard was set, though now we pro- 

 pose to pasture them with either sheep or young cattle. A 

 top-dressing of either manure or ashes has been applied every 

 other year. It is wonderful what a change will be made in 

 the quality and quantity of the fruit produced by a slight 

 application of ashes, sown under the trees as far as the limbs 

 extend. . • 



Trees on very rich ground, or stimulated with too much 



