Chapter V: ) and heeled-in; in the spring they are set in

nursery rows, from a foot to eighteen inches apart in the
row. The nurseryman reckons the age of his tree from the
time the seedling is transplanted, rather than from the time
the seed was sown.

Seedling raising is usually conducted by men who make it
a business and who supply the general nurserymen of the
country. It is largely practiced at the west, where the deep
and strong soils produce a rapid growth. The yearling trees
are graded by the western growers into about four lots:
"Extras," or those at least one-fourth inch in diameter at the
crown and having twelve inches of both top and root; these
are used mostly as budding stocks the next season, "Commons,"
those between three-sixteenths and one-fourth inch
at the crown and having eight inches of root; these are used
for immediate root-grafting. "Second-class," those from
two to three-sixteenths inch at the crown, and "third-class,"
or all those under two-sixteenths. The last two classes must
be grown in the field for one or two seasons before they can
be worked.

Dwarf stocks are mostly obtained from mound-layering.
The common stock for dwarfing is the Paradise apple, a
dwarf variety of the common apple species (_Pyrus Malus_).
This variety rarely attains a height of more than four feet.
A larger or freer stock is the Doucin, also a variety of _Pyrus
Malus_, which will produce an engrafted tree intermediate in
size between that given by the Paradise and free or common
stocks. This is little used in this country. To obtain stools
for mound-layering, the tree, when well established, is cut
off within four or six inches of the ground in spring, and during
the summer several shoots or sprouts will arise. The next
year the stool is covered by a mound, and by autumn the layers
are ready to take off. Sometimes, when stocks are rare,
mound-layering is performed during the first summer, before
the young shoots have hardened, but good stocks are not obtained
by this method. Common green layering is sometimes
practiced the first year, but it is not in favor. The dwarf
stocks, in common with all apple stocks, may be propagated
by root-cuttings and by hard-wood cuttings.

Apple stocks are either grafted or budded. Root-grafting
is the most common, especially at the west where long scions
are used in order to secure own-rooted trees. (See Chapter
V.) Budding is gaining in favor eastward and southward;
it is performed during August and early September in the
northern states, or it may be begun on strong stocks in July
by using buds which have been kept on ice. Stocks should
be strong enough to be budded the same year they are transplanted,
but the operation is sometimes deferred until the
second summer. Stocks which cannot be worked until the
second year are unprofitable, especially on valuable land.
For root-grafting, strong one-year-old roots are best, but
two-year-olds are often used.

In common practice, the root is cut into two or three
pieces of two to three inches each, but stronger trees are
obtained, at least the first year or two, by using the whole
root and grafting upon the crown. The lowest piece is
usually small and weak and is generally discarded.

The apple is easily top-grafted and top-budded. (See