58 



three months before named. {Mills on Fine Apple, 

 27.) 



The suckers emanating from plants when growing 

 without pots, have nearly double the substance of 

 those produced under the pot system, however well 

 cultivated. Those suckers which are not ripe by the 

 middle of September let remain on the plants which 

 produced them until March following ; for they are 

 very apt to rot, not only when taken off very succu- 

 lent, but likewise if taken off later in the season than 

 September. Each plant generally yields from two to 

 five or six suckers at a time. The season for propa- 

 gation is according to the time the plants that are in 

 fruit prduce the suckers ; which is principally in June, 

 July, and August, according as the plants are in for- 

 wardness ; though the plants will grow at any time. 

 It may however be observed, that they are always fit 

 to be taken off for propagation, when they appear 

 brownish at the bottom ; they are to be slipped or 

 drawn off carefully with the hand, (not cut) in a side- 

 ways direction. When they are taken off, they should 

 be divested of a few of the lower leaves at the bottom, 

 where they are expected to strike root ; where they 

 assume a brown colour at the bottom, and form little 

 knobs, which are the embryos of future roots. These 

 suckers being ripe, having had their full growth on 

 the mother-plant, they should be planted directly into 

 pots (the first size), and plunged into the bark-bed in 



