BUDDING, 51 



if spread immediately on the land thinly and plowed in lightly ; but 

 this is a coarse, unworkmanlike method. To free it from the pulp, 

 take a coarse sieve, and after it has lain upon boards for forty-eight 

 hours, proceed to sift it ; the next process is washing in tubs, when 

 most of the pulp which passed through the sieve will rise to the top 

 of the water and may be taken off. If the ground is ready it may 

 now be sown, the ground being made rich in vegetable, or partially 

 mixed with well rotted animal manure, trenched or plowed twenty 

 inches deep ; sow the seed in drills of about one foot wide and two 

 feet between each drill ; scatter the seed so that when it grows there 

 will be one plant to every two inches, and cover with about one inch 

 of earth, and one inch of leaf mould, or tan bark, or sawdust. Fresh 

 raw manure induces insects, and consequently diseased roots. If the 

 seed is intended for shipment, or keeping over until the Spring 

 planting, boxes not over six inches deep should be procured, with 

 holes made in the bottom for drainage, and then the seed packed in 

 shallow layers with sand or moss, and placed in the open air on the 

 north side of some building or fence. 



By Grafting. All of the modes described in previous pages are 

 used in propagating the apple. Seedling stocks of a diameter at the 

 crown of from one-quarter to three-eighths inch are the best ; these 

 are generally obtained from seedlings of one year's growth in our 

 rich western soils ; they should be dug up, have their side roots 

 trimmed to within one inch of the main root, and that cut off to about 

 eight inches ; the graft should then be inserted, in the whip or tongue 

 method, just at the crown or union of top and root. The same course 

 may be adopted with seedlings in the ground, with exception of 

 shortening the roots. 



Grafting on small pieces of roots, may answer for the growing of 

 some varieties in the nursery ; but very few, when removed, are 

 found to have made much but small fibrous roots ; and when planted 

 in the orchard, require staking for years, and rarely ever make, good 

 trees. The practice has been largely followed, but is now condemned 

 by most nurserymen, and that of grafting only on the whole of a root, 

 as first mentioned, advised. Cleft grafting is generally pursued on 

 trees of large size in the orchard, and may be done in October or 

 November often with as good success as in Spring. 



Nurserymen generally practice taking up the seedling trees late in 

 Autumn, and heeling them in, as it is termed, viz., covering them, 

 when laid down at an angle of 45, with earth. This is done in the 

 cellar or root house, from whence they are taken and grafted in 

 February and March, and repacked in boxes just deep enough to 

 allow one inch of sand on the bottom ; and the stock grafted just 

 coming level with the tops, sand is mixed intimately among them, 

 covering all of root and union of graft. They are then set away in 

 a cool place but free from frost, until the day of planting. 



