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287 



Imported dry, Tmt when received it may be miied with moist Band, and 

 either bmied in the open gromid or stored in a, cool cellar, nntU it is 

 wanted for sowing in early spring. But it may be mixed with sand as 

 soon as washed fi'om the pomace, and then, buried in the ground, it will 

 germinate more reailily and ito Jnce stronger and more vigorous plants 

 than seed that has been long diied. The seed should be sown in single 

 or broad drills and covered not more than an inch deep. The seedlings 

 should b3 taken up when one yeai- old, the tap-root shortened, and the 

 stem cut back to within six or eight inches of the ground, before plant- 

 ing out again. The following August, if they make a good growth, they 

 wUl be in good condition for budding in the usual way. The next spring 

 they are to be cut back to within four inches of the bud, and all sprouts 

 kept removed from the stock during the summer. The stocks on which 

 the buds have not taken may be splice grafted near 

 the ground, in order to have the rows full of worked 

 trees. The next spring the stump above the bud may 

 be removed with a clean, upward sloping cut. Some- 

 times one-year-old, and even older. Pear stocks are 

 splice grafted in the winter and planted out in spring, 

 but this mode of propagation is more generally prac- 

 tised w ith the apple. Apple seed may be treated in 

 the same general way as those of the Pear, but they 

 grow more fi-eely and are far less liaLle to be injured 

 by rust in simmier and other parasitic diseases. Root 

 grafting the Apple, using one and two-year-old seed- 

 ling stocks, IS extensively practised by nurserymen. 

 The stocks should be dug up m the fall and stored in 

 a cool cellar or pit, where they can te readily taken 

 cut when wanted for use. Cions should also be cut 

 from the trees of the vaiieties to be propagated, late 

 In fan or early winter, and stored where they wiU not 

 shrivel or become softened by water. Well-ripened 

 wood of the present season's growth is used for cions, 

 and that from bearing trees is preferable to shoots 

 from small and immature trees. When ready to com- 

 mence grafting, the stocks and cions aie brought into 

 E warm cellar or room and brushed or washed clean ; 

 for if covered with sand or earth of any kind, the 

 knives used will soon become dull, and good work 

 l3 im-'ossible with dull tools. Strong manilla paper, coated on one 

 side with wax — or very thin cloth may be used if preferred— is cut 

 into narrow strips for tying in the cions. When the materials ai-e all 

 at hand, proceed with the work by splicing a cion on the crown of the 

 seedling stock, as shown in figure 99, and wind the lower part of the 

 cion and stock with a piece of the Waxed paper or cloth, applying only 

 enough to cover the splice. (See Splice Grafting in a preceding chapter). 

 Sometimes nurserymen cut up the long slender roots of seedlings into 



Fig. 99. 



SPLICE GRAFT- 

 ING THE APPLE. 



