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of purchasing their trees in lots of half a dozen or more, 

 from glib tongued tree. agents, whose only object is to sell, 

 and who often furnish only the lef use stock of nurseries, 

 untrue to name, with badly mutilated roots, at double or 

 ^ triple the rate for which any reliable nurseryman will 

 fujnish good stock. Order your trees direct from some 

 reliable nurseryman as near home as possible, or better 

 still, go and select your trees yourself, or get some reliable, 

 capable person to do it for you. In selecting trees, the 

 largest are not, always the best. Medium sized trees are 

 lifted with better roots than larger ones. It is always 

 better to have a small tree with plenty of good roots, than 

 a lai'ge one derici^nt in root. The former is more sure to 

 grow, while the lactor will never make a satisfactory tree. 

 In a few years the difference will be apparent. 



But there is no reason why every farmer who proposes 

 to raise fruit should not have his little nursery, and raise 

 his own trees. In this way he would be sure of having 

 good stock of the varieties required, and would run no risk 

 of being swindled by the tree agents. The cost, too, in time 

 and money would be less than half that charged by an 

 agent. What is to hinder boys and young men living on 

 the farm with their parents from engaging in this work 

 on a small scale, and widening out as their experience 

 grows ? 



In early spring, as soon as the land is fit to work, pre- 

 pare a strip of ground as yon .' ould for a crop of vegetables. 

 Scatter seed or refuse apples along the drills, and cover 

 about three inches. In a few weeks the young plants will 

 appear. Cultivate the joung twigs the remainder of the 

 season as you would a crop of potatoes. The more thorough 

 the cultivation the better root you may expect the young 

 tree to possess. If the work has been well done and the 

 land in good condition you may expect the trees to be from 

 six inches to one foot high by the fall. They should be 

 lifted before the ground freezes and only the best selected 

 (the rest thrown away) and carefully packed in sand or 

 moss and put in the cellar until the time comes for gi'afting, 

 which is generially during the winter or early in spring. 



The process of grafting is extremely simple. Cut the 

 stock oli the root just at the neck, or where it came above 

 the surface of the ground before it was lifted. Fit the 

 scion on the root as you would splice two rods together, 

 having first cut a little tongue in each of them, then wrap 

 a strip of cotton rag saturated with grafting wax around 

 each of them and the thing is done. 



