No. 7. 



Fruit and Fruil Trees, 



101 



They will then have attained about six feet 

 in height and a proportionable tliickness, and 

 will make large, healthy, fruitful, and dura- 

 ble trees. 



LAYERS AND CUTTINGS. 



Many kinds of shrubs and vines niay be pro- 

 pagated by cuttings or slips, and most if not 

 all sorts, may be propagated by layers, and 

 in ejther case the work is to be done early in 

 the fall, shortly after the leaves are shed, or 

 in the spring, as soon as the ground will ad- 

 mit of it. 



CUTTINGS. 



Cuttings should be taken from shoots of 

 the preceding year's growth, from bearing 

 stocks, of sound and perfect growth, close 

 jointed, and neither rank and pithy, nor small 

 and imperfect, and planted six or eight inches 

 deep. Slips from shrubs, such as gooseber- 

 ries and currants, may be from twelve to 

 eighteen inches long; and for the grape, 

 woodbine, and other vines, from sixteen to 

 twenty inches long. Plant shrub cuttings in 

 an upright or perpendicular position. On the 

 other hand, the grape and other vines must 

 be planted sloping, and nearly horizontal, with 

 the ends turned up in such a manner as 

 to raise two or three buds on the cutting 

 above the surface of the ground where planted. 

 Before planting, the ground should be loosened 

 for some distance round, and the weeds kept 

 down afterwards. Cuttings may be placed 

 in a nursery a foot apart every way, and 

 transplanted after one or two season's growth, 

 or planted at first where they are to remain. 

 Grape cuttings should be taken when pruning 

 vines in the fall, buried during winter, and 

 planted in the spring. 



All sorts of shrubs and vines which admit 

 of being propagated by cuttings, will succeed 

 equally as well and some better, by layers, 

 and many kinds may be propagated by layers 

 which cannot by cuttings. Layers may be 

 prepared in various ways. My object is to point 

 out only the most plain and simple method, 

 best adapted to common use, and for all ordi- 

 nary purposes. Take for layers such young 

 suckers or shoots as can be bent down to the 

 ground without separation from the shoot or 

 main stock; dig up and mix the earth along 

 side the shrub or tree from vvhich the laye" 

 is to be selected ; make a hole from four to 

 six inches deep; prepare a peg or stick from 

 six to eight inches long, sharp at one end, and 

 a hook at the other; cut out from the shoot 

 intended for a layer the buds as directed for 

 cuttings, when it is intended to raise a single 

 stem, bring down the shoot and fasten it with 

 the peg in the hole about twelve or fifteen 

 inches from the end, then cover it over ; raise 



the end of the layer so as to stand perpendi- 

 cular from the ground, and press the carlh 

 around it. In one year the layer will have 

 formed a root of its own, and may be separa- 

 ted from the main stock, the roots and branches 

 pruned and then planted permanently, 



GOOSEBERRIES AND CURRANTS. 



Currants and gooseberries, and particularly 

 the first, are usually suli'ered to grow in 

 bunches composed of side slioots and suckers, 

 which absorb all the moisture and substance 

 of the earth, so that no herb or vegetable will 

 thrive within a space of five or six feet from 

 them ; they increase until they choke each 

 other, and become a heap of rubbish ; the fruit 

 is small, insipid, and unhealthy. They can, 

 with a little attention be raised with a single 

 stem, the fruit then grows more abundant, 

 larger, and better flavored, which is effected 

 by merely cutting out every bud with a chip 

 of the wood from all that part of the cutting 

 which, when planted, will be at or below the 

 surface of the ground. 



PLANTING AN ORCHARD. 



In planting trees in an orchard or garden, 

 where they are to remain, the same rules 

 should be observed as in transplanting them 

 from the seed bed to the nursery, in pruning, 

 planting, watering and previously mellowing 

 the soil; they should be planted early in Oc- 

 tober, or as soon as possible in the spring, and 

 the earth, unless it is ploughed, should be 

 spaded four or five feet in diameter for a tree. 

 They should be well secured with firm stakes, 

 and tied up with whisps of straw or loose 

 bandages of any kind, to secure them from be- 

 ing shook or loosened in the ground. The 

 trees should be planted a sufficient distance 

 apart so as to admit the sun and a free circu- 

 lation of air when full grown : apple and pear 

 trees at least 40 feet, cherry and plumb 30 

 feet, peach, appricot and nectarine 25 feet. 

 Tilling by raising a succession of crops of 

 grain a-iul suitable manuring, particularly 

 around tlie trees and as far as the roots ex- 

 tend, will promote a vigorous and rapid 

 growth ; in a few years they will attain con- 

 siderable size and bear fruit in proportion. 



SOIL AND SITUATION. 



Low, wet or mashy ground is not suitable; 

 it should be upland, or so much so as not to be 

 exposed to standing water; should be open to 

 sun and air, and tolerably rich. 



That soil and situation which will bear 

 good crops of winter grain, are well calcu- 

 lated for the cultivation of fruit trees, shrubs, 

 or vnics. Occasional ploughing, digging, or 

 in other way mixing or mellowing the ground, 

 keeping down underbrush and weeds, and 

 manuring are beneficial, and will at all times 



