36 FRUIT GARDEN. 



be dusted upon the flowers (always deprived of stamens) 

 of the Mujrfowl egg, the Grej Achan, the Green Yair, 

 or others, that are hardj, or of British origin. 



As this is a subject of interest, we may state some of 

 the precautions adopted by Mr. Knight and his follow- 

 ers, in conducting their experiments. It is, in the first 

 place, a rule to employ seeds of the finest kinds of fruit, 

 and to take them from the largest, ripest, and best fla- 

 vored specimens of the fruit. "When Mr. Knight 

 washed to procure some of the old apples in a healthy 

 and renovated state, he prepared stocks of such good 

 sorts as could be propagated from cuttings ; he planted 

 them against a south wall in rich soil, and then grafted 

 them with the kind required. In the following winter 

 the young, trees were taken up, their roots retrenched, 

 and then replanted in the same place, by which mode of 

 treatment they were thrown -into bearing when only two 

 years old. Not more than a couple of apples. were 

 allowed to remain on each tree, and these, in conse- 

 quence, attained a larger size and more -perfect maturity. 

 The seeds of these apples were then sown, in the hope 

 of procuring an equally excellent offspring. In the 

 case of cross-impregnation, every seed, though taken 

 from the same fruit, produces- a different variety, and 

 these varieties, as might be anticipated, prove to be of 

 very various merit. In general those seeds are to be 

 preferred which are plump and round. An estimate of 

 the value of the seedling trees. may be formed, even 

 during the first summer of their growth, from the re- 

 semblance they bear, in bud and foliage, to highly cul- 

 tivated and approved trees* The leaves of promising 

 seedlings improve in character, becoming thicker, round- 

 er, and more downy every season. Those whose buds 



