VI. 



PLANTING. 



Apricots and peaches are generally put on plum- stocks, 

 yet, after centuries of this practice, they do not become 

 plums. If the/rwi* of the graft partake of the nature of 

 the stock, why not the wood and leaves ? Yet, is it not 

 visible to all eyes, that neither ever does so partake ? 

 The bud, or graft, retains its own nature, wholly un- 

 changed by the stock j and, all that is of consequence, 

 as to the kind of stock, is, whether it be such as will 

 last long enough, and supply the tree with a suitable quan- 

 tity of wood. As to the stocks raised from stone-fruit, 

 the stones must be taken from the fruit when the fruit is 

 ripe, made perfectly dry in the sun 3 then packed in per- 

 fectly dry sand, and kept there until the month of No- 

 vember, when the stones must be sowed in just the same 

 manner as described for the pips, except that they ought 

 not to be closer than an inch from each other in the 

 drill, and should be covered to the depth of three inches, 

 or, perhaps a little more. The plants will come up in 

 the Spring, and will attain a good height the first Sum- 

 mer. They should be transplanted in the Fall, first 

 taking off the tap root, and shortening the side roots. In 

 the next month of April, they should be cut down to the 

 ground and suffered to send up only a single stalk for 

 grafting or budding upon. They should now be planted 

 in rows at four feet apart and at a foot apart in the row, 

 in order to give room for the operations of grafting and 

 budding. There are cases when stocks raised from 

 layers are preferred ; these cases will be mentioned under 

 the head of the fruit to which they apply, and the reader 

 already knows how to raise stocks from layers, because 

 it is done in just the same manner as when the layer is 

 intended to be a tree to bear fruit without budding or 



