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CHAPTER VII.

FRUITS.

FRUIT is one of the first considerations of a good farmer, and usually one of the most pleasant and profitable departments of the farm. In a work of this character, no extended details can be expected, but a few hints in that direction will not be out of place.

Planting. The tree to be planted should be as young as circumstances will allow. The season is just when the leaves become yellow, or as early as possible in the spring. The ground being prepared and the tree taken up, prune the roots with a sharp knife, so as to leave none more than about a foot long; and if any have been torn off near the stem, prune the part, so that no bruises or ragged parts remain. Cut off all the fibres close to the roots, for they never live, and they mould and do great injury. If cut off, their place is supplied by other fibres more quickly. Dig the hole to plant in three times as wide, and six inches deeper than the roots actually need as mere room. And now, besides the fine earth generally, have some good mould sifted. Lay some of this six inches deep at the bottom of the hole. Place the roots upon this, in their natural order, and hold the tree perfectly upright while you put more sifted earth upon the roots. Sway the tree backward and forward a little, and give it a gentle lift and shake, so that the fine earth. may find its way among the roots and leave not the smallest cavity. Every root should be closely touched by the earth in every part. When you have covered all the roots with the sifted earth, and have seen that your tree stands just as high, with regard to the level of the ground, as it did in the place where it stood before, allowing about three inches for sinking, fill up the rest of the hole with the common earth of the plat, and when you have about half filled it, tread the earth that you put in, but not very hard. Put on the rest of the earth, and leave the surface perfectly smooth. Do not water by any means.

Water poured on in this case sinks rapidly down, and makes cavities among the roots and lets in air. Mould and canker follow, and great injury is done.

Cultivation. In the first place, the ground is always to be kept clear of weeds, for whatever they take is just so much taken from the fruit, either in quantity or quality, or in both. It is true that very fine orchards have grass covering all the ground beneath the trees; but these orchards would be still finer if the ground were kept clear from all plants except the trees. Such a piece of ground is at once an orchard and a pasture. What is lost in one way is probably gained the other; but if we come to fine and choice fruits, there can be nothing that can grow beneath to balance the injury done to the trees. The roots of trees go deep; but the principal part of their nourishment comes from the top soil. The ground should be loose to a good depth, which is the certain cause of constant moisture; but trees draw downward as well as upward, and draw more nourishment in the former than in the latter direction.

If crops be grown under trees in orchards, they should be wheat, rye, winter barley, or something that does not demand a plowing of the ground in the spring. In the garden, dig the ground well and clean, with a fork, late in November. Go close to the stems of the trees, but do not bruise the large roots. Clean and clear all well close around the stem. Make the ground smooth just there. Ascertain whether there are insects of any sort there; and if there are, take care to destroy them. Pull or scrape off all the rough bark at the bottom of the stem. If you even peel off the bark a foot or two up, in case there are insects, it will do all the better. Wash the stems in water in which tobacco has been soaked, and do this whether you find insects or not. Put the tobacco into hot water and let it soak twenty-four hours, before you use the water; this will destroy or drive away all insects. But for the purpose of removing all harbor for insects, make the ground smooth just around the stem of the tree, and let the rest of the ground lie as rough as you can; for the rougher it lies the more it will be broken by frost, which is a great enricher of all land. When the spring comes, and the ground is dry at the top, give the whole of the

ground a good deep hoeing, which will make it level and smooth enough.

GROWING APPLES IN THE NURSERY ROW.

In every kind of business there is a right way and a wrong. way. This is as true in the growing of apple trees as it is in any other business process. My aim shall be to outline the

right way.

Seed. This may be procured from cider mills in the fall, and kept until about the first of January, when it should be mixed with sand and placed where it will freeze. If it can be kept frozen solid till planting time, it will be all the better for it; but if not, it must be shovelled over once a day after thawing out, to prevent heating and subsequent destruction of the seed.

Growing the Seedlings. Ground should be ploughed about eight inches deep, and subsoiled in the bottom of this furrow to a further depth of about nine inches. At least seventeen inches of mellow soil are needed to grow the proper length of root in an apple seedling. A number one apple seedling root is from eight to fifteen inches long, and in hard ground the roots branch so much that they are of little use for grafting. For budding, however, the branched root is preferred, as it is likely to grow faster. In the fall the seedlings should be taken up and stored in a cellar, out of danger from heat or frost, until the time for grafting.

Grafting. Scions should be cut in November, or early in December, before the arrival of cold weather, and packed in sawdust in the cellar. The time for grafting will depend mainly on the amount of help and the quantity of work to be done. It can be done at any time during late winter and early spring. For grafting, the roots of seedlings are cut into sections about four inches long, and the scions into pieces of about the same length. The upper end of the section of root is cut smooth and sloping, and the lower end of the scion is cut at about the same angle. In each of these bevelled ends a tongue is cut, so that when the cut surfaces of the root and scion are in contact these tongues shall hold them firmly together. The secret of success in this operation is to secure an intimate contact of the cambium layer or inner bark of root and scion. Without this no union.

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of the two can occur. To secure this, careful and observant experience is essential, and therein lies the skill of the grafter. For tying the grafts, the best material is crochet cotton No. 20, prepared by boiling the balls in melted wax, composed of onefourth lard and three-fourths rosin. With this the grafts are wound to hold the scion in place until it has united with the stock. Only a few turns around the joint are necessary; many grafters do not even tie the ends of the cotton, trusting to the adhesive power of the wax to hold it in place. After winding, the grafts should be tied in small bunches, 50 or 100 in each, labelled, and packed in boxes of sawdust in the cellar. Boot boxes are a convenient size, and nothing but pine sawdust, slightly moistened, should be used. If stored in this way, they can be left until time to plant out in the spring.

Planting the Grafts. - Ground should be plowed and subsoiled as for growing seedlings, and should be harrowed and rolled until thoroughly pulverized and compacted, forming a fine but solid bed. In planting, use steel dibbles one foot in length. Plunge the dibble into the soil, and press to one side to leave room for the graft. Insert the graft alongside the dibble, leaving only about an inch of the scion above the surface. Press the soil firmly against the graft with the dibble, and it may be expected to grow if conditions are favorable.

For budding, the seedlings are planted out at the same time with grafts, and are budded in the following August or September. The next spring the top of the seedling is cut off close above the bud, and any seedling sprouts that may come out are removed. With some varieties much nicer trees can be grown by budding than by grafting.

Growing the Tree. Whether budded or grafted, after the desired varieties are secured they must be thoroughly cultivated, trimmed, and headed, and at the end of three or four years they are ready for the orchard.

APPLE ORCHARD AND ITS MANAGEMENT.

That location and soil have much to do with the success or failure of an apple orchard, no observing person will deny. My ideal location is a plat sloping toward the south. The soil,-any

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