RAISING APPLES FROM SEED. 



CHAPTER II. 



PROPAGATION OF THE APPLE. 



APPLE SEEDLINGS — TO GET GOOD SEED — THE SEED BED — APPLE 

 SEEDS — PRESERVING SEEDS — ROOT GRAFTING — CARE OI KOOT 

 GRAFTS. 



The varieties of Apples are propagated by budding or grafting 

 upon seedlings. The seedlings used for stocks are most com- 

 monly grown from seed obtained from the pomace of the cider 

 mills by washing. While some good seeds may be obtainod in 

 this way, the majority must be imperfectly developed, as moot of 

 the fruit used for making cider are the wind-falls and those in- 

 jured by the codlin moth. To obtain good seed, the fruit of 

 strong native trees should be selected. The fruit may be ground 

 lip for cider and the seeds then separated, or the A])ples may be 

 planted whole. Some of the best seedlings I have ever grown 

 were from seed planted with the whole apple in the fall. 



The Seed-bed. — The soil for the seed-bed should be deep and 

 moist, and made rich by the addition of an abundance of well 

 decomposed manure, or ground bone and potash. New soil will 

 grow much better seedlings than that previously cultivated for 

 several years. It should be broken up and planted with potatoes 

 one year, or until it gets mellow. The first year after turf land 

 is plowed there are many larvte in the soil that feed upon the 

 young roots of the seedlings and greatly injure them. If the 

 seed i;j purchased from seed dealers, it is often difficult to get it 

 in season for sowing in the fall. In such cases it must be pre- 

 served through the winter packed in boxes of sand and be kept 

 in a cool cellar, as near freezing as possible ; or, the box may be 

 placed partly under ground, out of doors, where there is no dan- 

 ger of standing water, taking care that the sand does not get dry 

 during the winter. 



As soon as the ground will work up fine, the seed should be 

 sown with the sand in drills 18 inches apart, and so that the seed- 

 lings will stand two or three inc'.?s apart. All of the weak and 

 imperfect seedlings should be thinned out as soon as their char- 

 acter can be determined, and the soil be kept free from weeds 

 and mellow. If the seed-bed was properly prepared and the seed 



