80 THE APPLE-TREE 



Some growers use Oldenburg as stock, and there are 

 other good kinds. 



From the young stock, the old head is to be removed 

 and a new head (the new variety) grown in its stead. 

 The tree, therefore, will be combined of three kinds of 

 apple, — the root of unknown quality; the trunk or body 

 under a varietal name; the top, of the variety desired. 

 Any number of different kinds of apple wood may be 

 worked into the tree if the tree is large enough. If the 

 operations are well performed so that there are no im- 

 perfect unions, and if the pruning is judicious, the tree 

 may be grafted many times, in whole or in part. 



I have said that my father brought apple seeds from 

 New England and that the resulting seedlings were top- 

 grafted. One of these trees was early top-worked to 

 "Holland Pippin," which seldom bore. It stood in the 

 yard near the smoke-house, where it found abundant 

 nourishment. It grew to great size. In time I became 

 a grafter of trees for the neighborhood, and often as I 

 returned at night would have cions of different kinds in 

 my pockets. It became a pastime to graft these cions in 

 the old tree. More than thirty varieties were placed 

 there. It was with keen anticipation, as the years came, 

 that I looked for the annual crop, to see what strange 

 inhabitants would appear in the great tree-top. I do not 

 remember how many of these varieties came into bear- 

 ing before the tree was finally gathered to the wood-box, 

 but they were a goodly number, probably more than a 

 score. I used often to wonder how it was that the nutri- 

 ents taken in by the roots of the Vermont seedling and 

 transported in the tissues of the Holland Pippin, com- 

 bined with the same air, could produce so many diverse 



