PROPAGATING FRUIT TREES. 181 



sown thin, so that each plant will have room 

 enough to grow, and should receive a covering 

 of about one inch of earth, which should be 

 pressed firmly upon the seed. Mazzard and 

 Mahaleb, cherry and plum stones, should be 

 kept in moist sand through the fall and winter, 

 in boxes which should be allowed to freeze and 

 be kept in this state, or as cold as possible, until 

 spring. After this they should be planted as 

 apple and pear seeds. 



Peach stones are wintered in wet sand, in 

 boxes in the open air, allowing them to freeze 

 and thaw frequently. By this process the stones 

 either will open of themselves or may be easily 

 cracked with a nut cracker. The seed should 

 then be planted in furrows, made with a plough, 

 three feet apart, and the stones or meat four 

 inches apart in the row. Wood ashes strewed 

 in the furrow and mixed with a hoe will prove 

 an excellent fertilizer for the peach. If the 

 stones have been well preserved and cracked 

 with care the growth will be uniform, and the 

 stocks in good condition to bud in August fol- 

 lowing. 



All other fruit seedlings should be dug from 

 their beds in late autumn, and heeled in thickly 

 and to a good depth in cold frames, receiving a 

 moderate degree of frost. If the apple stocks 



