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of the upper shoots may not shade those situated 

 underneath, pmuing away only trifling shoots. By 

 this mode, fruit may be had from seedling apples at 

 four, fire, and six years of age, instead of waiting 

 eight, ten, and even fifteen years, by the usual mode 

 of planting close, and pruning to naked stems. 



Mr. Macdonald, a distinguished gardener in Scot- 

 land, has also succeeded in obtaining fruit from seed- 

 lings at an early period by grafting, already stated as 

 one of the uses of that mode of propagation. In 

 1808, he selected some blossoms of the Nonpareil, 

 which he impregnated vriih the pollen of the Golden 

 Pippin and of the Newtown Pippin. ^Vhen the 

 apples were fully ripe, he selected some of the best, 

 from which he took the seeds, and sowed them in 

 pots, which he placed in a frame. He had eight or 

 nine seedlings, which he transplanted into the open 

 ground in the spring of 1809. In 1811 he picked 

 out a few of the strongest plants, and put them singly 

 into pots. In spring, IS 12, he observed one of the 

 plants shewing fruit-buds. He took a few of the 

 twigs and grafted them on a healthy stock on a wall, 

 and in 1813 he had a few apples. The third year 

 (1816) his seedlings yielded several dozens, and also 

 his grafts ; and he mentions that the apples from the 

 grafts were the largest. 



If the length of time which has hitherto been re- 

 quired to cause seedling fruits to blossom, could be 



