198 
RAISING APPLE-TREES FROM SEED. 
a distinct branch ; there is, indeed, a knot at the junction, as much 
of the one as the other ; and it is the number of these knots by re¬ 
tarding the flow, or causing an accumulation of the sap, which would 
appear to bear some part in effecting a fruitful state. From these 
circumstances, the inference to be drawn, is, that if we can cause the 
formation of three or four successive shoots in the course of the year 
instead of one, or at the most two, (as would be the case, were the 
tree left to the course of its natural growth,) that we shall thereby 
anticipate by a half or two-thirds, the usual period of fructification. 
With this aim then, it will be necessary to maintain the young 
seedlings by due care and judicious culture, in a vigorously growing 
condition, and two or three times, or even oftener, as the circum¬ 
stances maj warrant; nip off, or prune back, the leading shoot, 
whereby at each operation a new branch will be protruded, which 
otherwise would not have been the case, until the succeeding spring. 
By a continued repetition, however, of these operations, an inconve¬ 
nient number of diverging shoots will also be excited ; consequently, 
attention must be paid to regulating their number, by disbudding 
the branches accordingly, which will also infuse more vigour into 
those remaining. It will not be advisable to continue the stopping 
far into the season, otherwise the young wood will not have time to 
ripen, and the frosts of winter, by killing the newly-formed portions, 
will counteract the advantage obtained. By duly following this 
method, the usual period of fructification will be shortened with the 
apple, to and from the fifth to the seventh year, instead of the twelfth 
to the twentieth, and the pear in like proportion. I cannot here fur¬ 
ther develope this subject, but trust I have said sufficient to incite 
your correspondent, and mayhap some others of your readers to in¬ 
stitute experiments founded on these suggestions. To those who 
feel an interest in these matters, and are at the same time conversant 
with the French language, I would recommend the careful perusal 
of the work of M. Sageret, entitled “Pomologie Physiologique,” 
published at Paris, in 1830, where will be found a full exposition 
of this mode of practice, to effect the early production of fruit on 
seedlings, which I have so hurriedly and imperfectly touched upon 
above; the whole work is moreover replete with interesting observa¬ 
tions, the result of numberless experiments relating to a great vari¬ 
ety of fruits, and some vegetables and ornamental plants. I do not 
find, that it has excited much attention in this country, and thence 
conclude, that it is but little known to the votaries of Horticulture, 
who will, I flatter myself, coincide in my opinion, that the mass of 
facts it contains are highly valuable, enhanced by their being solely 
