92 Lessons in Fruit Growing. 



ing and thawing. About the time the frost leaves the 

 ground, they are often taken up and cracked by hand, 

 placing them on the end of a wooden block and strik- 

 ing each a gentle blow on the edge with a hammer. The 

 kernels are then taken out of the shells and planted at 

 once, 1 or 2 inches deep, and 6 or 8 inches apart, in rows 

 sufficiently separated to admit of horse cultivation. To 

 secure a good stand of plants, the kernels are often sprouted 

 before planting by mixing them with moist sand and leaf 

 mold and spreading thinly where exposed to the sun's rays, 

 the sprouted pits being planted with a trowel. If the 

 ground cannot be prepared early, germination may be re- 

 tarded by burying the uncracked stones a foot or two deep, 

 until wanted. 



Vacancies in the rows may be filled from a seed bed when 

 the plants are very young. If the weather is dry, the ground 

 should be watered. 



The pits may be planted without cracking by mixing the 

 fresh stones with moist saud and spreading the mixture in 

 a layer not over 6 inches thick on the ground, covering 

 this with a few inches of partially rotted straw or coarse 

 manure to prevent drying. This covering should be re- 

 pioved at the beginning of winter to favor freezing of the 

 pits. In spring, a large portion of the pits will be found 

 sprouting. The sprouted pits are then carefully picked 

 out and planted at once as above directed. In a few days 

 another portion will be found sprouted which may be 

 picked out and planted as before, and this assorting and 

 planting process should continue as long as the pits con- 

 tinue to sprout. Those which do not sprout the first 

 spring may be covered again with coarse manure and ex- 

 posed to freezing the second winter. 



