46 THE NURSERY 



out the season, the addition of water may be required. The 

 seedlings should make a steady growth and not be checked 

 for the lack of moisture. 



Spraying. It will hardly be possible to grow good 

 seedlings without suffering from the effects of insects or 

 fungus diseases. It is usually necessary to spray nursery 

 stock from one to three times during the growing season. 

 Early in the season bordeaux mixture or lime sulphur can 

 be used, and later, if necessary, arsenate of lead may be 

 included with the others. The same strength of sprays 

 is used as for older trees. Often the apple aphis will appear 

 and in such cases they should be sprayed with tobacco 

 extract. If the spraying is carefully attended to, the seed- 

 lings should grow to a height of from two to three feet the 

 first year, and have a diameter sufficient to either bud or 

 graft as the case may be. 



Fall Treatment of Seedlings. If the seedlings are 

 grown to sell as such, they are dug up in the fall and given 

 a special treatment. Where they are to be used for propa- 

 gation, only those that are to be grafted are dug, the others 

 remaining as they are until ready to be used as a nursery 

 tree. The apple is the only fruit that is root-grafted to 

 any considerable extent, and the fall treatment for such 

 seedlings is best described by F. W. Watson of Topeka, 

 Kansas, who says: 



" We use a digger similar to a tree digger, excepting 

 in width; it is only ten inches wide. Seedlings are cut 

 at a depth of sixteen inches. The pullers follow the digger 

 closely, pulling, bunching, tying and burying the seedlings 

 in a deep furrow in the field, Fig. 18. Only a few minutes 



