APP 



[61] 



APP 



ment of the buds, which generally takes 

 place in the early part of March, in Bri- 

 tain. "We consider that the buds of the 

 stock should be near bursting their skin, 

 or hybernatory, before grafting should 

 take place. 



This, of course, will differ, in different 

 fruits, as differs their degrees of preco- 

 city. For details of the process, see 

 GRAFTING. 



By cuttings. All the varieties may be 

 raised in this mode, though some, as the 

 Burr-knot, Codling, and June-eating, 

 more readily than others. Trees so 

 raised are said to be not so liable as 

 their parents to canker. In February 

 take cuttings of the young shoots from 

 some of the horizontal branches, about 

 eight inches long, cutting off a portion 

 of the old wood of the branch attached 

 to the shoot ; remove all the buds except 

 the upper three. Plant these firmly in 

 sandy loam, giving water and covering 

 with a hand-glass until the cuttings 

 have well vegetated. Shade from the 

 mid-day sun ; remove the hand-glass in 

 July, and get the plants into the nursery 

 early in November. 



Soil. The apple prefers a deep and 

 strong or adhesive loam. The colour is 

 not so very material providing such rest 

 on a sound subsoil, free from water 

 lodgments. If it is not so naturally, 

 draining must be had recourse to, or it 

 will be vain to expect success. They 

 are nevertheless cultivated with consi- 

 derable success, on any ordinary garden 

 soil ; and even on soils of a peaty cha- 

 racter, we have known them succeed 

 tolerably well; but, in the latter case, 

 the peat must be previously solidified by 

 drainage, culture, &c., for a few years, 

 for we have never known them succeed 

 on raw elastic peats. Improved peats, 

 indeed, will in due time approach the 

 character of common dark garden soils, 

 and it becomes expedient for the apple, 

 to introduce both marl or clay, and also 

 sand. Whenever a suspicion exists of 

 an ungenial subsoil, the best plan is to 

 plant on stations ; which indeed is the 

 best plan to adopt in all kitchen gardens, 

 where the object is to get great variety in 

 small compass, or to induce early bear- 

 ing. See article STATIONS. 



Planting. The soil should be trenched, 



and immediately beneath each tree, ac- 

 cording to the extent of its roots, chalk, 

 stones, or brickbats rammed so as to 

 form a kind of pavement to direct the 

 roots horizontally. Plant so that the 

 roots nearest the surface are twelve 

 inches below it. See STATIONS. 



Espaliers. When first planted the 

 young plant is cut down to within about 

 a foot of the ground, and only three 

 shoots permitted to spring from it, one 

 of which will be the leader, and the 

 others will form the first or lower tier of 

 bearing branches, which are to be se- 

 cured to small stakes, so as to keep them 

 in their proper places. 



The following season the upright 

 leader must be shortened to nine inches 

 or a foot above the two horizontal 

 branches, and deprived of all its shoots 

 excepting the three uppermost, which 

 are to be treated the same as before. In 

 this way the leading shoot is to be stop- 

 ped at the requisite distance above the 

 horizontal ones, until it has reached the 

 height of five feet. It is then cut off, 

 and no more allowed to grow upright, 

 the whole strength of the tree being di- 

 rected to the fruiting branches. 



Espalier apple trees should be planted 

 at not less than twenty feet distance ; but 

 five and thirty feet is better, especially 

 for trees grafted on crab or apple stocks, 

 which are free growers ; for trees grafted 

 on codlin or paradise stocks eighteen or 

 twenty feet may be a sufficient distance. 

 They should be planted with their heads 

 entire, only removing any very irregular 

 growths that do not range consistent 

 with the intended form, and pruning 

 any broken roots ; as also the points of 

 immature wood. Let all the branches 

 be trained horizontally to the right and 

 left, an equal number on each side, all at 

 full length, five or six inches asunder, 

 and, according as they shoot in summer, 

 still continue them along entire. At the 

 same time train in a further supply 01 

 new shoots, to increase the number of 

 horizontals or bearers, and thus continue 

 increasing their numbers every year, till 

 the espalier is regularly filled from the 

 bottom to top, preserving all the branches 

 at full length, as far as the allotted space 

 will admit. 



They must have a summer and a win- 



