AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 195 



like themselves as possible. If they have not attained that 

 point they may be still progressing ; but if they have simply 

 arrived at the acme of their individual character, and not con- 

 stituting standards for their class, then it becomes difficult to 

 explain why the incessant efforts of the last half century have 

 not produced an apple superior to the Newtown pippin, a pear 

 as finely flavored as the Seckel, or a plum equal to the old 

 green gage, whose seedlings, raised haphazard through the 

 country, though inferior to their parent, yet occupy almost 

 alone the wide space lying between it and all other varieties 

 of plum. My readers may pursue either track at their pleas- 

 ure. See Fertilization, page 74. 



CHAPTER Xin. 



Propagation of Fruit-trees by Seeds, Cuttings, Layers, &c. Various 

 Stocks for Fruit-trees. 



PROPAGATION OF FRUIT-TREES. 

 BY SEEDS. 



See " Seedling Stocks," page 204. 



BY CUTTINGS. 



Currants, gooseberries, grape-vines, and quinces are often 

 raised from cuttings, and it is quite possible to raise apples, 

 pears, and other fruits in the same way. 



Certain fruit-trees, as some varieties of the apple, indicate 

 a disposition to root by pushing out bunches or ganglions of 

 half-formed or inchoate buds from the plain body of the stem, 

 and from these, in due time, young shoots proceed. Cuttings 

 from such varieties strike readily. In certain circumstances 

 a similar result seems forced, as when the young green growth 

 feathers the whole length of the rough bark of the body of a 

 felled pitch-pine, or an equally unpromising locust post in a 

 lumber-yard. 



It is. not, however, desirable to raise fruit-trees in this man- 

 ner. The heavier trees, when raised from cuttings, never make 



