20 
THE APPLE. 
easily procured in bulk and tbe seedlings grow fast—two great merits 
to the raisers and sellers of trees. The apple seeds collected from the 
residuum of the cider press, and cleared of the mucilage adhering to 
them, are either sown at once or dried and stored in bags till the following 
March or April. They should not be kept later, as they do not retain their 
vitality long. In the former case they are often sown in pots or boxes, or 
in cold frames in a temperature of 45*^ or 50°. As soon as the plants 
are fairly up, prick out or pot off singly, and keep the plants near the glass 
to prevent them spindling up weakly. By the middle or end of May such 
plants will be nice stuff to plant out in nursery lines two feet or a yard 
apart, and from nine to eighteen inches from plant to plant. Here they 
will make a free growth throughout the summer if planted, as they 
should be, on a good sweet bit of mellow soil in a sheltered spot, and 
kept clear of weeds. In the autumn they may either be transplanted to 
wider distances or allowed to stand a second year in the same place. If 
the seedlings are those of superior varieties they will, of course, be 
transplanted in the autumn to make them fruit sooner. 
For the mere raising of stocks in quantity the extra labour and pro¬ 
tection of glass in winter, necessitated by autumnal sowing, scarcely pays, 
and the seeds are mostly sown in the open air at once in the spring, either 
thickly in nursery beds or in lines. The latter is the best mode, as, when 
sown in beds, unlesp sown very thinly, the plants are apt to fog off almost 
i 
before they are large enough to handle or be pricked out in rows or beds 
further apart. 
At the end of the first season’s growth the seedlings should be put out 
in rows four feet asunder, and the plants from a foot to eighteen inches 
from each other. Here they may remain until they are fit for grafting, 
which most of them will be the third or fourth season. Tittle is gained by 
working the plants too soon. As a rule the stocks should reach a diame¬ 
ter of from three-quarters of an inch to an inch before they are grafted. 
Much, however, turns on the sort of tree required. Cordons, which, 
however, are generally worked on Doucin stocks, raised from layers or 
cuttings, can hardly be grafted too early; while stocks tail enough for 
orchard trees need time to reach the proper stature and enlarge into suit¬ 
able sizes. These are generally worked at heights ranging from four to 
six feet from the ground. Some, indeed, prefer working orchard trees 
low, and either growing large dwarf trees, or carrying up the first 
shoots of the scions to form the stem of the future trees. But this 
involves a loss of time as well as fruiting force, and possesses no 
advantage in strength or stature over the crab or seedling apple stock. 
It is better, therefore, on the whole, to allow the seedling or crab to 
form the stems of the future apple tree, and to graft at such height as 
