338 APPLES. 



cause then the action of such spongioles as may be saved 

 in the operation would not be sufficient to supply the waste 

 by evaporation. Plants first beginning to grow in the spring 

 with their leaves just turning green, are in a most unfit state 

 to remove ; for, when transplanted, their roots will not have 

 time to form a sufficient number of new spongioles to sup- 

 ply the loss to which the rapid perspiration by the leaves at 

 that season will give rise. It' is upon this same principle, 

 that if deciduous plants are taken from the ground in the 

 summer, they are put into pots and placed in a hot-bed to 

 recover ; not for the sake of the heat, but because the at- 

 mosphere of a hot-bed is so charged with humidity that per- 

 spiration cannot go on, so that the vital energies of the plant 

 instead of being wasted by evaporation, are directed to the 

 formation of new mouths by which to feed. 



This is but a brief outline of what the principles are upon 

 which the common operations of the Fruit Garden depend ; 

 yet it is hoped that it may not be without its use in calling 

 attention to the rationalia of what may seem extremely sim- 

 ple and well-understood practices, but which are undoubt- 

 edly neither so perfect, nor generally so skilfully performed, 

 as to be incapable of amendment. 



CHAPTER I. 

 ON THE CULTIVATION OP APPLES. 



SECT. I. Standard Trees for Orchards. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



Propagation. 



The stocks necessary for this purpose should be raised 

 from the seed, which may be procured from the cider-mill, 

 and ought to be sifted out of the pumice, washed clean 

 and dried, which is a far better way than the slovenly mode 

 of using the pumice and seed together, as is sometimes 

 done. Early in the spring, or as soon as the frost is out 

 of the ground, having a good piece of ground well dug 

 and prepared, with a hoe draw shallow drills about a foot 

 or eighteen inches apart, sow the seed thin and even in the 

 drills, cover in the drills with the earth, settling it well down 



