APPLE. 163 



Hagioe Crab. — A celebrated fruit for early use, either for 

 cider or the kitchen. It is a strong grower and an abundant 

 bearer. Fruit medium size, flat, greenish-yellow streaked 

 with red. Flesh soft, juicy, with a rich flavor. Ripe in Au- 

 gust and September. 



Siberian Crab. — This variety is cultivated exclusively for 

 preserving, being very small, with a clear, waxy skin, either 

 Yellow or Red, there being two varieties. The Red makes a 

 very ornamental tree when loaded with its brilliant fruit, be- 

 ing like so many pendant garnets. 



Culture. — The best soil for the Apple is that of a loamy, 

 friable nature, avoiding sand and clay, in either of which this 

 tree is short-lived. The finest trees and orchards are planted 

 on a deep, sandy loam, either on a dry bottom or having a 

 good descent for carrying off the water. It is not our purpose 

 to go into an elaborate detail of the management of an orchard ; 

 that would only confuse and mystify ; our aim is to state only 

 what is essential, and to do it with brevity and precision 

 There is no country that possesses greater advantages of cli- 

 mate for fruit culture than the United States ; yet, as we have 

 stated, we see fine young trees left to the mercy of the elements 

 without any support ; we see no disposition to arrange or form 

 the head ; no hand to thin out the crops ; all, all is left to na- 

 ture ; even the soil has no annual or tri-annual material given 

 to keep it in a state to yield a regular and continued crop. 

 The trees, in consequence, get distorted, the limbs broken down 

 with their harvest to their lazy lords ; and then commences 

 the " besom of destruction," to annihilate their existence, with 

 saw and axe to cut off' their broken branches ; disease takes 

 hold of the tree, and it comes to a premature old age, having 

 not lived half its days. Such has been the fate of many an 

 orchard, and such is the treatment most frequently pursued in 

 the present day. The first object of attention in planting an or- 

 chard, ought to be to have the ground well ploughed, deep — 



