110 



THE NURSERY. 



above the surface and are too close together, they should 

 as soon as possible be thinned out to regular distances ; 

 for when grown np in dense masses, they are generally 

 feeble and worthless. One hundred good vigorous stocks 

 are worth five hundred poor ones. It is very common to 

 see seedlings of one year larger than those of two years, 

 under difierent management, and in such a case the year- 

 lings are worth twice as much as the others. A very good 

 plan is to thin out all the weakest plants when about four 

 or five inches high, leaving those only of yigoro«s habit 

 and large foliage. 



The Doucain is a distinct species of apple ; the tree is 

 of medium size, bears small sweet fruit, and reproduces 

 itself from seed. It is used for stocks for apple trees of 

 medium size, jpyramids^ or dwarf standanrds for gardens. 

 It is propagated almost exclusively from layers ; see fig, 

 63. The plants to be propagated from are planted in a 

 rich deep friable soil, and cut back to within four to six 

 inches of the collar; the buds, or the part below the cut, 

 will, during the next season, produce strong shoots ; the 

 following spring the earth is drawn up around each plant 

 in the form of a mound, so that the whole of the stem and 

 the base of all the shoots will be covered at least three 

 inches deep ; during that season all the shoots will pro- 

 duce roots, and should be separated from the mother plant 

 or stool, as such plants* are termed, in the fall. If left on 

 till spring the frost would be likely to injure them. The 

 stools are then dressed, the soil around them is spaded up 

 and enriched with well decayed manure, and the follow- 

 ing season another crop of shoots is produced, much 

 more numerous than the first, to be treated in the same 

 way. Every year these stool plants increase in size and 

 in the quantity of their productions, if well treated. 

 Another course, but not so good, is frequently pursued 

 when stocks are scarce. The shoots are layered, by bend- 



