126 THE NTJUSERY. 



under tliffereiit maiiageinent ; and, in sucli a case, the year- 

 lings are wortli twice as much as the others. A very good 

 phm is to thin out all the weakest 2>l:ints when about four 

 or five inches liigh, leaving only those of vigorous habit 

 and large foliage. The prevailing error in growing apple 

 seedlings, and, I may add, all seedlings, is that of having 

 them too close together — usually three or four times as 

 many on the ground as there should be. Give them 

 plenty of room, good soil, and clean culture, and you will 

 have good stocks. 



The Doucin is a distinct species of apple. The tree is 

 of medium size, bears small, sweet fruit, and reproduces 

 itself from seed. It is used for stocks for apple trees of 

 meilium ?\zq, pyramids, or dwarf standards for gardens. 

 It is propagated almost exclusively from layers. (See fig. 

 63.) The ])lants to be propagated from are planted in a 

 rich, deep, friable soil, and cut back to within four to »?ix 

 inches of the collar; the buds, on tlie part below the cut, 

 will, during the next season, produce strong shoots; the 

 following spring the earth is drawn up around each plant 

 in the form of a mound, so that the whole of the stem and 

 the base of all the shoots will be covered at least three 

 incliesdeep; during that season, all the shoots will pt-o- 

 duce roots, and should be sepaiated from the mother 

 plant, or stool, as such plants are termed, in the fall. If 

 left on until spi'ing, the frost wonld be likely to injure them. 

 The stools are then dresseil,the soil around them ig spaded 

 up and enriched with well-ilecayed manure ; and the fol- 

 lowing season another crop of shoots is produced, much 

 more numi-rous than the first, to be treated in the same 

 way. Every year these stool plants increase in size and 

 in the quantity of their productions, if well treated. 

 Another course, but not so good, is frequently pursued 

 when stocks are scarce. The shoots are layered by bend- 

 ing down, as described in layering, the first season of their 

 growth in July, and may be sufficiently rooted in the fall 



