6 TREATISE ON 



Those of plum & apricot trees ordinarily are able to take bud grafts only in the second 

 year. However, if apricot pits are put in to soak at the beginning of January in clear water 

 that's changed & renewed every two or three days, about three weeks later the pits will 

 appear to be partly opened by the swollen kernels. They then are planted in pots or 

 containers full of good soil and placed on window ledges of a conservatory or other 

 building with a southern exposure. They're protected from frost by bringing them inside 

 or covering them when the air gets too cold. The plant will have sprouted from the soil 

 before the end of February. It's left to grow and to strengthen until about mid-April and 

 then lifted with its clod of earth for transplanting to its intended location. It's tamped with 

 water, protected from the sun for several days, and watered several times during the 

 summer. These stocks, more than a month further along than ones raised by the usual 

 method, acquire enough strength to be grafted starting in the same year. But these 

 procedures are suited only for those individuals who are able to carry them out, and who 

 need only a small number of stocks. 



III. The pits of cherries, wild cherries, and mahaleb cherries also are put in thick, 

 moist sand during winter. In March, when the hard frosts are over, small trenches, about 

 two inches deep and four or five inches apart are dug in the ground prepared for seeding. 

 The pits, mixed together with sand, are sown in the troughs. They're all covered up with 

 half an inch of soil, provided it's of good quality, loose, and friable; or even better, use an 

 inch of compost from an old manure bed, leaf compost, marc of grapes, or old pigeon 

 manure. When the seedlings are sturdy enough to be put in a nursery, which normally 

 happens from the first year on. 



