FRUIT-GARDENING. 



CHAPTER L 



SELECTING FRUIT-TREES IN THE NURSERY. 



IN the choice of fruit-trees, all possible care and attention 

 are necessary ; for, to have trees that do not answer the expec- 

 tations of the proprietor, is a great disappointment. As the 

 young gardner ma} 7 need such directions calculated to govern 

 him in his choice, I shall endeavor to furnish them. Whatever 

 species or varieties of fruit-trees are wanted, choose those trees 

 that are vigorous and straight, and of a healthy appearance. 

 Whether they have been grafted or budded, be careful to 

 select such as have been worked on young stocks. Grafts and 

 buds inserted into old, crooked, stunted stocks, seldom succeed 

 well. Trees that are healthy, have always a smooth, clean, 

 shining bark. Such as are mossy, or have a rough, wrinkled 

 bark, or are the least affected by canker, should be rejected. 

 Canker is discoverable in the young wood, and generally two 

 or three inches above the graft or bud. If the tree be an 

 Apricot, Nectarine, Peach, or Plum, and any gum appears on 

 the lower part of it, do not fix upon that. Let the tree you 

 select (if a dwarf) be worked about six inches from the ground, 

 and only one graft or bud should be upon each stock ; for when 

 there are more, the tree cannot be brought to so handsome a 

 form. 



In some of the following articles, it will be seen that several 



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