ORCHARDS. 145 



will be the same : they must be thinned to the dis- 

 tance of fifteen or twenty inches from each other, 

 kept perfectly free from weeds, and, if the weather 

 be hot and dry, occasionally watered. They re- 

 quire only a repetition of this process, with the ad- 

 dition of a little careful pruning, till they have at- 

 tained the height of seven or eight feet, when they 

 are fit for grafting.* It is generally known that by 

 this operation we continue any given species of 

 fruit ; but a fact with which the public is less ac- 

 quainted is, that if the graft be also grafted, the 

 product is improved both in quantity and quality ; 

 and, it is to be presumed, will continue to improve 

 under every new and similar operation. Grafts, to 

 be well chosen, should be taken from wood of the 

 present year, from young and healthy races, and 

 accommodated to the future use of the fruit. If, 

 for instance, your object be cider-making, you will 

 take your grafts from the crab or the redstreak ;f 

 and if for barrelling, from the pippin, the Spitzen- 

 berg, the greening, or the Swaur. As we only 

 speak of grafting incidentally, it will not be expect- 

 ed that we should go into a dissertation upon that 

 art, nor to elucidate the many divisions and sub- 

 divisions which technical men have made of it.J 

 It is enough for us to say, that, of all these different 

 modes, the scion and the slit is the simplest and the 



* Budding is generally preferred to grafting in nursery estab- 

 lishments, because it gives a longer season for propagating, is 

 more expeditiously performed, more certain, especially with 

 stone fruit, and may be performed upon stocks a year or two 

 earlier than grafting. Budding should be performed when the 

 stock is from the size of a pipestem to the size of the little fin- 

 ger. J. B. 



f The redstreak is no longer with us in a healthy condition ; 

 it has degenerated. The Harrison, winesap, pippin, and crab, 

 are our best cider fruits. J. B. 



J The two grand divisions are by approach and by scion. Their 

 varieties and sub-varieties, nearly a hundred, are known by 

 the names of ancients and moderns, as Varro, Virgil, Columella, 

 Maiherbes, Duhamei, Bosc, Michaux, &c., &c. 

 N 



