APPLES. 



87 



. .11 for apples is a deep, strong, rather adhesive loam, 

 resting on a sound, dry subsoil. In sour, wet land they 

 never do well, so that the ground must be drained if 

 necessary. Apples, like pears, are chiefly propagated by 

 grafting, occasionally by budding. 



Crab stocks are often raised from the kernel, but 

 Codling and Paradise stocks by cuttings and layers. 

 "When the young stocks are sufficiently grown, shorten 

 the tap roots, and plant them out a foot apart, in rows 

 two and a half feet apart. In about three years they 

 will be fit for grafting for dwarf or low training, or 

 even, if well grown, for standards, if it be intended to 

 form the stem from the graft. If the stock is to form 

 the stem, it must be left to make about four years' 

 growth, and be encouraged to a straight, upright growth. 

 If strong stems are wanted to make orchard standards, 

 let the side-shoots grow one year, and then only shorten 

 them. These may be totally removed later, and the 

 best season to do it is about midsummer, for the wounds 

 will skin over better in the growing season than during 

 the time of non- growth. 



Get the scions cut in January or Pebruary, tie them 

 in bundles, label them carefully, and plant the ends in the 

 earth in a cool, damp place, safe from sun and wind. The 

 stocks should be ready to burst the skin of the buds be- 

 fore they are grafted, the cut grafts will be backwarder, 

 so that nourishment from the stocks will be waiting for 

 them when they are ready to commence growing. The 

 process of grafting was entered into in the fourth 

 chapter. 



The Burr-knot, Codling, and Juneating are the sorts 

 that may best be raised from cuttings, and the young 

 trees are less liable to canker than their parents. Take 

 the cuttings from the horizontal branches, about eight 

 inches long, with a bit of the old wood to each. Eub 

 off all the buds but the top three, set them firmly in 

 sandy loam, cover them with a glass, and give water 

 from, time to time. Shade them from hot sun ; in July 

 the glass may be taken off*, and in the autumn they may 

 be planted oiit. 



