CHAPTER II. 



SEED-GROWING, GRAFTING AND 

 BUDDING. 



Forward in the name of God : Plant, graft and nourish up 

 trees in your ground ; the labor is small, the cost is nothing, the 

 commodity is great ; yourselves shall have Plenty, the Poor shall 

 have somewhat in time of want, and God shall reward your good 

 merits and diligence. From an old English orchard book. 



Nearly all orchard trees come from seeds originally 

 planted in nursery-beds, and later, after being budded 

 or grafted, transplanted to the orchard. They are in 

 fact usually transplanted once or more before being 

 finally put out in the orchard, except in the case of the 

 chestnut, hickory, etc., which object to being trans- 

 planted and are more easily grown by planting the 

 nuts where the trees permanently belong. 



To those accustomed to sowing flower and vegetable 

 seeds it is often a surprise to find that tree seeds do 

 not germinate so readily as the others. It is a fact that 

 they do not. Still, fair success may be looked for by 

 attention to the preservation and sowing of the seeds. 



Joseph Meehan says: "As a rule, all kinds of 

 seeds of trees are the better sown in autumn. As 

 soon as the seeds are ripe, keep them in a cool place 

 and in sand so that they will not lose weight by dry- 

 ing. If in a building not exposed to winds, it will be 

 a suitable place. Apple, cherry, peach and the whole 

 list of such trees are included. Nurserymen who 

 raise trees by the millions follow this plan. 

 (19) 



