84 HORTICULTUKAL MANUAL. 



tion of this useful nursery implement. The shovel-plow 

 in front spreads the earth and the subsoil lifter passing 

 through the base of the pole lifts and fines the earth to a 

 depth of fourteen inches. With only two horses this 

 depth is reached by running twice in each row. The 

 grafts are set with a narrow spade which is thrust down 

 in the mellow earth, the handle leaned forward, and the 

 graft is set in back of the blade, when another movement 

 of the spade presses it in firmly. The setting is rapid and 

 the conditions for growth are far better than can be 

 secured by other methods. Shorter grafts are set without 

 the use of the spade. A boy spaces apple-root grafts and 

 the man following presses them down in the soft soil and 

 levels up the surface. 



The trenching also is useful in holding the moisture. 

 The summer rains run the water to the trenches where the 

 growing plants need it. 



88. Top-grafting. In all climates grafting in the top is 

 often an advantage. Usually the gain comes from work- 

 ing a highly developed variety of fruit, rather delicate and 

 tender in tree, on robust, deeply rooted stocks nearer to 

 Nature. Over Europe and a large part of Asia native wild 

 stocks have been largely used, noted for their ability to 

 endure every extreme of given climates. At the Porno- 

 logical Institute at Proskau in North Silesia the writer 

 asked the venerable and experienced Dr. Stoll to name the 

 most satisfactory stock for top-working in that section. 

 His reply was that no one variety was suitable for the 

 varied soils and altitudes of even that vicinity. He then 

 proceeded to name the best stock for top-working on sandy 

 soils, retentive clays, porous soils and subsoils, and even 

 for lands naturally swampy and boggy. As yet we have 

 not been able to make these fine distinctions in the adapta- 

 tion of fruit varieties and stocks to varied soils and atmos- 



