32 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



seeds by means of a riddle sieve, mix them with a 

 quantity of rich loam sifted fine ; put this into a box 

 and expose it to the weather during winter. In April, 

 the earth and seeds are put into a basket, and washed 

 until the seeds are separated, when they are planted 

 in a naturally rich soil, thoroughly pulverized, and 

 well prepared with rotten manure and leached ashes. 

 The seeds are planted in straight, parallel rows, three 

 feet apart, and about two inches deep ; the plants, if 

 too thick, may be thinned to about six inches apart, 

 by pulling up the feeblest. The plants should be kept 

 clear of weeds, annually manured, and properly prun- 

 ed. Young trees should be effectually secured from 

 sheep and horned cattle, in every stage of their 

 growth. 



In Marshall'^ Rural Economy it is directed, that the 

 seedling plants, when tak^n from the seed bed, be 

 sorted agreeably to the stren th of their roots, that 

 they may rise evenly together. The tap, or large bot- 

 tom root, should be taken off, and the longer side root- 

 lets should be shortened. The young plants should 

 then be set in rows, three feet apart, and from fifteen 

 to eighteen inches asunder, in the rows; care being 

 taken not to cramp the roots, but to bed them evenly 

 and horizontally among the mould. In strictness of 

 management, they ought, two years preyious to their 

 being transferred to the orchard, to be transplanted 

 into unmanured double dug ground, four feet every 

 way apart, in order that the feeding fibres may be 

 brought so near the stem, that they may be removed 

 with it into the orchard, instead of being, as they gen- 

 erally are, left behind in the nursery. Hence, in this 

 second transplanting, as in the first, the branches of 

 the root should net be left too long, but ought to be 

 shortened in such a manner as to induce them to form 

 a regular globular roof, sufficiently small to be remov- 

 ed with all their plants, yet sufficiently large to 



