204 Apples. 



By this mode, it will be seen that when the grafts are put in on the 

 side branches, they are not shaded by the heavy shoots above them, 

 and they have an unusual supply of nourishment to carry them for- 

 ward. Those who have attempted to graft the whole head of a large 

 tree at once are best aware of the great difficulty in the common 

 mode of getting the grafts to take on the side limbs. 



" One of these large trees so treated, is probably more than 

 seventy-five years old, and has now an entirely new and vigorous 

 head, grafted with this excellent variety. When I began with it, 

 the frait was only fit for cider, and it was questionable whether the 

 tree should not be cut down. By grafting it in this manner, I have 

 added surprisingly to its value. Two years ago (the bearing year), 

 I obtained from it ten bushels of apples ; last year eight bushels ; 

 and this year (only six years from the time I began to graft it), I 

 gathered twenty-eight and a half bushels of excellent fruit ! 



" I consider this tree now worth one hundred dollars ; the cost 

 of grafting it was about five dollars ; and the latter was all repaid 

 two years ago the first season the grafts bore fruit." 



The bearing year of apple-trees which yield excessive crops, is 

 only every alternate year ; but by thinning out a large portion of the 

 fruit while yet small, the exhaustion will not be so great as to ren- 

 der the tree barren the second season, and it will bear annually. 

 By picking off all the young fruit, the bearing year may be entirely 

 changed, or one bough may be made to bear one year, and another 

 bough the second year. 



Depredators. The insect enemies of the apple have been already 

 described. Mice, which sometimes girdle and destroy young trees, 

 especially such as are neglected and allowed to grow in grass, may be 

 excluded by a small mound of earth, thrown up about ten inches 

 high around the stems late in autumn. This earth 

 should be compact and smooth, and not consist of 

 turf, which is liable to cavities, inviting instead of 

 repelling these depredators. Fig. 243 shows the 

 mode of performing this operation. If well done, 

 it has never failed to protect the trees. One man 

 will go over some hundreds in a day. In the follow- 

 ing spring this earth is again levelled. 

 Fig. 24?. Rabbits are excluded by placing peeled bark or 



Mode of bank- . . , . , , 



ing up trees stiff painted paper around the stems : or, easier, by 

 U*! rubbing fresh blood upon the bark every few weeks 

 during winter, which may be done by using a piece 

 of fresh liver for this purpose. 



