land
prepared by double-plowing (see our article on "Plowing") will make one
third greater growth, in a given time, than those on land prepared in
the ordinary way. In double-plowing, if the subsoil be very poor, it
will be necessary to give a top-dressing of well-rotted manure, worked
in with a cultivator. Thorough draining is also very essential to a
nursery.

_Time of Planting._--The general practice is to plant in the fall, at
any time before the ground freezes. The better way is to keep seeds in
moist sand, or dry and spread thin, until spring, and plant as early as
the ground will allow. Freezing apple-seeds is of no use. Hard-shelled
seeds had better be frozen, to open the stones and give them an
opportunity to germinate. The advantage of spring-planting is, the
ground can be put in much better condition, and the seeds will start
quite as early as the weeds, and much labor may be saved in tending.

_Method of Planting._--Plant with a drill that will run about an inch
deep, putting the seeds in straight rows, not more than an inch wide,
and two and a half feet apart; this will allow the use of a small horse
and cultivator, which will destroy nearly all the weeds. Use a
potato-fork or hoe, across the rows, among the seedlings, and very
little weeding will be necessary. It is not more than one fourth of the
ordinary work to keep a nursery clean in this way. Two thirds of those
thus planted and cultivated will be large enough for root-grafting the
first season, and for cleft-grafting the second. When your seedlings are
six inches high, if you thoroughly mulch them with fine straw or manure,
you will be troubled with no more weeds, and your trees will get a
strong growth.

For root-grafting, pull up those of suitable size very late in the fall,
cut off the tops eight inches from the root, and pack in boxes, in moist
sand, and keep in a cellar that does not freeze; graft in winter, and
repack them in the boxes with moist sand, sawdust, or moss, and keep
them until time to transplant in spring. They should not be wet, but
only slightly moist. In the spring, plant them in rows three feet apart,
and ten inches in the row. The second year, if they are not wanted in
market, they should be taken up and reset, in rows four feet apart, and
two feet in the row. Cut off the ends of large roots, to encourage the
growth of numerous fibrous roots. Large nursery-trees, that have not
been transplanted, are of little value for the