PYRAMIDAL APPLE TREES. 



63 



fruit when only nine inches in height. My trees are 

 in eight-inch pots ; but, to have healthy fertile trees, 

 I should recommend them to be gradually shifted 

 into fifteen-inch pots. The citizen may thus have his 

 apple orchard on the leads of his house. 



The English Paradise stock, much like the Doucin, 

 and those above-mentioned as my seedlings, are most 

 deserving of our attention as stocks for forming fruit- 

 ful pyramids, the culture of which is very simple. 

 Grafted trees of one, two, or three years' growth, with 

 straight leading stems, well furnished with buds and 

 branches to the junction with the stock, should be 

 planted. No manure should be placed to their roots, 

 but some light friable mould should be shaken into 

 them, the earth filled in, trodden down, and two or 

 three shovelfuls of half-rotted manure laid on the sur- 

 face round each tree. This surface-dressing may be 

 given with advantage every succeeding autumn. If 

 the soil be very wet and retentive, it will be better to 

 plant the trees in small mounds ; and if symptoms of 

 canker make their appearance, their roots should be 

 examined annually in the autumn, as recommended 

 in root-pruning of pears on the quince stock, introdu- 

 cing the spade directly under the roots, so as to pre- 

 vent any entering deeply into the soil, and bringing 

 all as nearly to the surface as possible, filling in the 

 trench with light friable compost ; or the tree may be 

 lifted and replanted, which will be found more effi- 

 cient. I firmly believe that canker may be entirely 

 prevented by this annual attention to the roots. 



If, therefore, the soil be unfavorable, and apt to in- 

 duce a too vigorous growth in apple trees, folio wed by 

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