THE APPLE. 139 



In France apples are peeled and dried, when they are exported 

 to England under the name of Normandy pippins ; these when 

 soaked and cooked make a delicious dish for early spring, when fruit 

 is scarce, and one which is far more wholesome than rhubarb, which 

 is so much used in this country. 



In Switzerland vast quantities of apples are grown; nevertheless 

 the inhabitants are so frugal that they cut the sound portions from 

 the windfalls in slices, and suspend them from a thread till they 

 are dry, when they can be kept till winter ; a practice which may well 

 be imitated by our country people. 



Varieties of apples are obtained by sowing pips of the best kinds. 

 The pips are sown in drills, but they must be protected from the 

 mice. Very few of the trees which grow from the seeds give apples 

 positively bad and of no use, nevertheless not one in a thousand is 

 superior to those varieties which have preceded them. It must be 

 confessed that most of our fine apples have had an accidental origin, 

 and have been discovered by observation. I have myself raised many 

 seedlings, some of them of much promise, but certainly none up to this 

 time superior to those in ordinary use. 



When we have a tree of a variety which we appreciate, it may be 

 multiplied by layering when we obtain the same kind on its own root. 



The same variety may be also propagated by grafting, when we 

 obtain the same kind on a different stock. 



" The mother plant admires the leaves unknown 

 Of alien trees, and apples not her own." DRYDEN, Georgics. 



Apples are grafted on the common seedling apple stock, or on 

 the Paradise stock. The first stock I use for large trees and 

 standards, the latter for small bushes. The immense superiority 

 of the Paradise stock for small trees to ensure early bearing, may be 

 learnt from an experiment which I made some years ago of two trees of 

 the Juneating apple. One was grafted on the common stock, the other 

 on the Paradise stock, and both were planted side by side. The one 

 grafted on the Paradise stock has since that time yielded me annually 



