CHEAP FKUIT TREES. 23 



about each individual tree of his lower grades. The 

 loAver grades contain his odds and ends — trees with 

 gnarly trunks, those whose tops have been broken and 

 sprouts trained up in tlieir places, those with one-sided 

 roots and weak growth. The orchardist cannot afford to 

 buy them. They prove expensive in the end. It requires 

 too much time atid trouble to train them. In the 

 case above mentioned the tops had to be cut from about 

 half the trees, and a sprout encouraged. Usually more 

 than one sprout started, and the unnecessary ones had to 

 be rubbed off several times during the season. There is 

 usually a crook where the sprout starts, and the tree does 

 not always outgrow it entirely. In some cases all the 

 sprouts started below the bud, and a seedling was the 

 result. 



I must not be understood as recommending large and 

 stout trees. I only contend for good trees. A thrifty 

 peach tree one year from the bud is old enough for plant- 

 ing. It is much better than one three years old. A 

 vigorous apple tree two years from the graft or bud is 

 preferable to one twice as old. It should be demanded, 

 however, that a tree be straight, vigorous, clean, and that 

 it should have abundant and symmetrical roots. 



