THE APPLE. 



71 



ing the young shoots on the sides, in order to 

 divert the sap into the terminal shoot; and 

 such plants as are crooked ought to be cut 

 down to obtain a vigorous upright shoot. 



The shoots on the young stem should be pre- 

 served until it has attained a sufficient size to 

 be grafted, but they must not be allowed to 

 grow too large. They ought to be shortened 

 to 8 inches or 1 foot in the beginning of June, 

 earlier or later according to the season. The 

 stubs or shortened shoots left on the stem 

 should not be cut off at once, but partial re- 

 movals should be annually made in autumn or 

 spring. They should be removed by an up- 

 right cut, at about one-tenth of an inch from 

 the stem, and parallel to the circular wrinkles 

 or rings at the base of the shoot, for if cut off 

 in the direction of these the wound soon heals. 



The above are the essentials of what is con- 

 sidered, in Normandy, the best mode of raising 

 Apple-trees from seed, and of rearing them with 

 a tall stem, fit for standards. In this country 

 they are raised for stocks nearly in the same 

 manner, but they are transplanted, first from 

 the seed - bed, again when they are strong 

 enough for bedding out, and finally when they 

 are to be placed in nursery rows. 



Grafting. — Any of the methods detailed in 

 the chapter on grafting may be employed, but 

 of all others whip-grafting is to be preferred. 

 It may be well, however, to remark, that the 

 stocks should be grown in well-manured soil, so 

 as to be healthy and vigorous, and at least as 

 thick as the finger. They ought to be pruned 

 back to where the graft is to be placed, in 

 January if the weather is not too severe, but in 

 any case before vegetation becomes active. It 

 is not advisable to cut them down in hard frost, 

 as in that case small splits often take place at 

 the wounded part. If the weather permit, the 

 heading-back should not be deferred to a later 

 period than the end of January or beginning 

 of February. 



The scions ought to be cut from the healthiest 

 trees that can be found. Where canker is ob- 

 served in any part of a tree, the apparently 

 healthy shoots from that tree should not be 

 taken if others can be obtained from a healthy 

 one. They ought to be cut in January, but 

 not when they are in a frozen state; and to 

 preserve them till the time for grafting arrives, 

 a spade-deep trench should be dug out from 

 east to west, throwing the soil on the south 

 side, so as to form a ridge, on the north side of 

 which the cuttings should be laid in, but not in 

 bundles, the inner portion of which would be 



hardly, if at all, in contact with the moist soil, 

 and would consequently be apt to become dried 

 up. Each cutting should have its side laid 

 against the slope of the trench, and its end in 

 contact with the soil at the bottom. The lower 

 portion of the cutting must then be covered 

 with soil, which may be drawn up to nearly 

 its entire length, and pressed close. Scions 

 may also be preserved until the time of grafting, 

 by sticking their ends in moist sand; and they 

 may be kept alive for a year by shortening 

 them a little, and inserting to the depth of 

 5 inches in moist, shaded ground. Treated in 

 this way, we have seen cuttings taken in Janu- 

 ary, and grafted successfully in the March of 

 the following year, fourteen months after their 

 removal from the tree. 



Grafting is performed close to the surface of 

 the ground for dwarf trees, and also for stan- 

 dards when the sort worked is calculated to 

 form a good straight stem, as is the case with 

 many of the strong-growing kitchen Apples. 



Budding is generally preferred to grafting 

 because it is more expeditious, and with young 

 stocks an excellent union is obtained. 



Disease. — The diseases of fruit-trees are in- 

 cluded in the chapter dealing with plant diseases 

 generally, to which readers are referred for full 

 particulars respecting causes and remedies or 

 preventive measures. From a cultural point of 

 view simply, much can be done, however, to 

 minimize many attacks, and it is to this part of 

 the subject which we now draw attention. A 

 healthful tree is rarely subject to severe attacks, 

 and they can be more successfully dealt with in 

 any ease. The cultivator must therefore en- 

 deavour to render the conditions in which a 

 tree is growing as favourable as possible. 



Canker, it is well known, attacks some varieties 

 more than others growing in the same soil. 

 Hence, it must be inferred that some varieties 

 are constitutionally more disposed to this dis- 

 ease than others; again, in some soils almost 

 every variety is more or less subject to canker, 

 whilst in others the whole of them are com- 

 paratively free from it. Amongst predisposing 

 causes to attacks of canker are sudden checks to 

 the vegetation of the tree, especially in spring 

 and the early part of summer, from vicissitudes 

 of heat and cold, as well as of moisture and 

 dryness, unskilful and severe pruning, and dele- 

 terious substances in the soil or subsoil. 



When a tree grows rapidly in consequence of 

 high temperature, and is then suddenly checked 

 by cold, small lateral shoots, that have pushed 

 to the length of 1 or 2 inches, are apt to die, and 



