20 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



and from the ripest, largest and best flavoured spe- 

 cimens of that fruit. "When Mr. K. wished to pro- 

 cure some of the old apples in a healthy and reno- 

 vated state, he adopted the following method : He 

 prepared stocks of the best kind of apple that could 

 be propagated by cuttings, and planted them against 

 a south wall in a very rich soil. These were next 

 year grafted with the stire, golden pippin? or some 

 other fine old kind. In the course of the following 

 winter the young trees were dug up, and the roots 

 being retrenched, they were replanted in the same 

 place. By this mode of treatment they were thrown 

 into bearing at two years old. One or two ap- 

 ples were allowed to remain on each tree : these 

 consequently attained a large size, a more perfect 

 maturity. The seeds from these fruits, Mr. K. then 

 sowed, in the hope of procuring seedlings possessed 

 of good or of promising qualities ; and these hopes 

 have not been disappointed. In order to produce 

 a hybrid variety, possessing perhaps a union of the 

 good properties of two kinds, Mr. K. had recourse 

 to the nice operation of dusting the pollen of one 

 variety upon the pistils of another. He opened the 

 unexpanded blossom, and cut away, with a pair of 

 fine pointed scissors, all the stamina, taking great 

 care to leave the styles and stigmata uninjured. 

 The fruit which resulted from this artificial impreg- 

 nation were the most promising of any, and the seeds 

 of these he did not fail to sow. Every seed, though 

 taken from the same individual fruit, furnishes a 

 distinct variety. These varieties, as might be an- 

 ticipated, prove of very different merits ; but to 

 form a general opinion of their value, it is not ne- 

 cessary to wait till they produce fruit : an esti- 

 mate may be formed, even during the first summer, 

 by the resemblance the leaves bear to those of the 

 highly cultivated or approved trees, or to those of 

 the wild kinds. The more they approach to the 

 former, the better is the prospect. The leaves of 



