THE CULTIVATOR. 
99 
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CULTURE OF FRUIT TREES.—No. 3. 
THE APPLE. 
In raising young apple trees, the stocks should be seed¬ 
lings, and not suckers, as the latter furnish less perfect 
roots; and as those varieties which produce suckers most 
freely are chosen, they are apt to prove troublesome 
from the abundance which they yield. 
Transplanting apple trees is generally performed with 
far too little care; though their hardiness will ena¬ 
ble them to endure bad management, the thriftiness from 
good treatment far more than compensates all additional 
labor. The mode of proper transplanting has been de¬ 
scribed in a former number. Where the quantity of land 
is small, such care is especially necessary. 
It is now satisfactorily determined that apples are a 
most profitable crop for feeding domestic animals; hence 
larger orchards are becoming desirable. Those on good 
land will occupy less if placed in the hexagonal form, 
or in equilateral triangles, thus: 
For several years after young trees are transplanted, 
the ground should be constantly cultivated. This is easi¬ 
ly performed so long as the trees remain small. When 
they become large, an occasional cultivation, with in¬ 
tervening crops of grass, may be sufficient for extensive 
orchards. 
It is a common practice to neglect not only cultivation 
but pruning. Irregular and stunted trees, and small and 
inferior fruit, are the consequence. These may be pre¬ 
vented by moderate, frequent and judicious pruning, if 
the trees are not already old. The object is to diminish 
the thick growth, to increase the vigor of the branches 
and to admit light and air. The best and most thrifty 
branches should be left, the distance asunder being as 
nearly equal as possible, and forming a well shaped top. 
The branches should be cut closely in pruning, but not 
so much so as to occasion too broad a wound. If the 
wounds are an inch or more in diameter, they should be 
protected by a thick coat of paint, or better by a mixture 
of brick-dust or whiting with warm tar. This prevents 
cracking, admission of moisture, and the consequent rot¬ 
ting of the branches. Pruning should never be done in 
spring when the sap is flowing, but may be performed 
either in winter or in summer. A sharp saw is the best 
tool for removing large limbs. 
There are many orchards of ungrafted and compara¬ 
tively worthless fruit, which might be greatly improved 
by converting the tops to good varieties. This is usu¬ 
ally done by grafting into limbs two or three inches 
in diameter, but it is more difficult to perform, and the 
young shoots are much more liable to be broken off by 
wind, than when grafted into small branches. A suffi¬ 
cient number of young and thrifty shoots may be ob¬ 
tained in one season for grafting, by cutting ott' a few 
of the most central and larger limbs, when fresh ones 
will spring up vigorously in their place. As the grafted 
branches increase in size, the old ones are to be gradu¬ 
ally removed. 
It would be difficult, even for one extensively acquaint¬ 
ed with the varieties of the apple, to give a complete 
selected list; the difficulty is increased by the great un¬ 
certainty of names among cultivators, and the multi¬ 
plicity of synonyms for the same fruit. Lindley says 
with much truth, 
t: In apples, a greater confusion exists in this respect, 
than in any other description of fruit. This arises not 
so much from the great number of varieties grown, as 
from the number of growers, some of whom seek to 
profit by their crops alone, regarding but little their no¬ 
menclature. Nurserymen, who are more anxious to 
grow a large stock for sale, than to be careful as to its 
character, are led into error by taking it for granted that 
the name of the fruit they propagate is its correct one, 
and no other; hence arises the frequency of so many 
fruits being sold under wrong names. Gardeners, who 
purchase trees, become deceived by this procedure, and 
do not discover the error, unless they have been imposed 
upon by the substitution of something ivorthless, and ob¬ 
viously at variance with the character of the fruit sold 
them. This is a serious evil, to say nothing of the dis¬ 
appointment of the purchaser; for unless the mistake 
be detected at first the longer the tree grows before it is 
discovered, the more time will have been lost by its cul¬ 
tivation; and be it remembered, this time is irrecovera¬ 
ble.” 
It is care alone that can correct this evil; nurserymen 
should propagate for sale a smaller number of varieties 
on the one hand, and examine thoroughly a larger num¬ 
ber on the other, that they may prevent confusion and 
mistake by the former, and improve their selection by the 
latter. Purchasers must be careful to obtain them from 
those sources most to be depended on; or if they raise 
their own trees, they should, if possible, obtain their 
grafts from trees, whose genuineness has been proved by 
actual bearing. 
In giving a short list of apples, it is to be remembered 
that there are many good varieties, and that some must 
therefore be omitted; and to some, such a list may seem 
badly selected, in consequence of the many inferior fruits 
falsely called by the name of excellent varieties. The 
following list may assist the cultivator in selection: 
SUMMER FRUIT. 
Yellow Harvest, 
Early Sweet Bough, 
Early Red Juneating, 
Summer Pearmain, 
Sine Qua Non, 
Buffington’s Early. 
AUTUMN FRUIT. 
Belle-bonne, 
Strawberry Apple, 
Summer Queen, 
Ramboo, 
Autumnal Swaar, 
Gravenstein, Northern Spy. 
Fall Pippin. 
All these are in a greater or less degree, suitable lor ta¬ 
ble fruit; and some of them are also peculiarly adapted 
to culinary purposes. As the day for the manufacture 
of cider has passed away, and a far more profitable use 
is made of apples in feeding domestic animals, no vari¬ 
eties expressly for cider are given. 
To those who have but small gardens, the following 
are more particularly recommended: 
WINTER FRUIT. 
Bellflower, 
Swaar, 
Peck s Pleasant, 
Esopus Spitzenbergh, 
Jonathan, 
Ortiey, 
Baldwin, 
Rhode Island Greening, 
Ribston Pippin, 
Newtown Pippin, 
Roxbury Russet, 
Tall man Sweeting, 
Yellow Harvest, 
Bough, 
Sine Qua Non, 
Strawberry Apple, 1 
Gravenstein, 
Fall Pippin, 
Swaar, Baldwin, 
Spitzenbergh, 
Jonathan, 
Northern Spy. 
The uses of apples are becoming yearly better under¬ 
stood, and their value constantly increasing to the farmer. 
It is now satisfactorily proved that they are not only ex¬ 
cellent for fattening hogs, but are equally so for feed¬ 
ing milch cows during winter. Horses may also be ad¬ 
vantageously fed on sweet apples. For cows and hogs, 
the difference between sweet and sour apples is found to 
be far less than generally supposed. A moderate estimate 
of the expense of one acre of orchard, (remembering 
that the ground may be cultivated with crops w'hile the 
orchard is young,) will show the cost at from one to 
three cents per bushel; their value for feeding hogs has 
been proved to be much greater than the same quantity 
of potatoes. 
The Diseases and Enemies to which the apple tree 
is subject, are generally not formidable. It has however, 
sometimes serious ones to contend with. Among the 
chief are, 1. The Caterpillar. 2. The Borer. 3. The 
Canker. 4. The American Blight. 5. The Canker 
Worm. 
*This variety appears to be known only in western New-York, 
and appears to be greatly superior to any other variety ot that 
name. Nearly the only nursery which has furnished it, is that 
of Thomas & Smith of Mace don. 
