118 PROPAGATION OF THE APPLE. 



PROPAGATION. 



Raising the Seedlings. The seeds are most easily ob- 

 tained from the pomace of cider mills. They will make 

 the most thrifty plants, if the apples are selected from the 

 most rapidly growing sorts. The pomace is to be broken up 

 fine, in a large wash tub, mixed with water, stirred, and 

 allowed to stand a few seconds, when the seeds will settle 

 to the bottom, and the apple pulp is then racked off. A man 

 will thus wash out half a bushel of seeds in a day. The 

 clean seeds are more evenly and conveniently sown than in 

 the pomace, which may be done either in autumn or spring. 

 If not done till spring, they should be kept through the win- 

 ter, mixed with clean, moist sand, or with fine peat or pul- 

 verised muck, -a ~d exposed to the frost, which will tend to 

 split the exterior horny covering. If mixed with soil or 

 loam, it will be more difficult to separate the seed in dropping. 



The seeds may be sown in drills from one to two feet 

 apart, to be kept clean with the hoe. Or where land can 

 be afforded, they may be sown in wide drills, three feet 

 apart, for the cultivator to pass between. When sown in 

 the autumn, on soils which have a large admixture of clay, 

 the seed should be covered with fine muck or peat, to pre- 

 vent the formation of the crust on such soils, often so hard 

 that the young plants cannot rise through it. A compost 

 made of peat and one quarter of its bulk of ashes, is still 

 better. If sown in the spring, the seed should be mostly 

 covered with soil, with only a sprinkling of muck on the 

 surface ; otherwise the seeds or young plants may perish by 

 becoming too dry before they are well established. A 

 sprinkling of fine manure will accomplish nearly the same 

 purpose. 



The seedlings are treated in three different ways. They 

 •nay be set out into nursery rows in the spring, when a year 

 ^/ld, to be budded the second summer ; they may be taken 

 up and root-grafted as soon as large enough ; or they may 

 be planted into rows and grafted at any subsequent period. 



1. Budding. When the young plants are vigorous and 

 the land fertile, the budding may sometimes be done the 

 first year after removal to the nursery rows, but usually 

 the second summer will be found best, when the trees are 

 of sufficient size, and in the highest state of vigor, and 



