88 
THE GARDEN OF THE WORLD 
How do farmers 
get better apples? 
are apple and pear, and prune pits are like 
almond pits. 
It is a curious fact that apple trees grown from 
seeds never have as good fruit as the apple which 
produced the seed. The seeds from a big juicy 
apple might be planted and develop into trees 
which bear small, sour fruit. Because this is 
true, farmers do not raise apple trees from seed 
but buy little trees from the nursery man. 
However, if a farmer wanted to take the time 
and trouble, he could get good trees by grafting, 
which is what the nursery man does. Grafting 
is very like budding, but is a little harder to do. 
It means attaching the twigs of one tree to a 
branch of another. 
This is what often happens: A farmer has one 
fine apple tree. The apples are big, juicy, 
mellow, and of a lovely red color. Around his 
orchard are several little seedlings from these 
same apples. They are strong and healthy, but 
he knows the apples they bear will not be so 
good as those of the parent tree. He cuts off 
one of these seedlings just above the ground 
