Sprouting

“ When the seed is sown in the soil, it germinates of itself. As the sprout shoots up, no body cares to know and see it. But once the seed is strewn, it sends its roots into the ground and bursts into a shaft of sprout which forces its way upward independent of the human agency. To-day the plant's growth is but of a few inches and no body cares to look upon it. It grows up by degrees. Gradually the shooting sprout increases and it measures half a cubit, one cubit and so on up through all scales of progressive increase. ”

“ Propagation and Cultivation.—It is propagated, like other beets, from seed sown annually, and will thrive in any good garden soil. The sowing may be made at any time in April or May, in drills eighteen inches apart, and an inch and a half deep. "When the plants are a few inches high, so that those likely to make the best growth can be distinguished, they should be thinned out to nine inches or a foot apart, according to the richness of the soil; more room being allowed in rich ground. ”

“ Propagation.--All the species may be multiplied by seed, by layers, by cuttings, by suckers, or from grafts, almost indiscriminately. Layering is the easiest, and most certain mode of propagating this most beautiful shrub.
The roots that branch, out and throw up distinct shoots may be divided, or cut off from the main root, and even an eye thus taken off may be made to produce a good plant.
Suckers, when they have pushed through the soil, may be taken up by digging down, and gently detaching them from the roots. ”

“ When in flower the branches spread rigidly, but as the seed ripens the leaves begin to wither and drop off, the branches curl inward, and the plant becomes coiled up so as to resemble a small ball. In this state it is loosened from the soil and is drifted about with the sand over the arid plains. Should rain fall, or should it be blown into the water, the branches expand, the pods open, the seeds fall out, and it is a remarkable and newly-discovered fact that in the short space of twenty hours the seeds germinate and root. The plant will retain its susceptibility for years. ”

“ To circumscribe the growth in any given direction, to train the tree on the one hand, and to let in light and air by thinning on the other.
2nd. By pruning fruit trees we operate so as to check undue growth of wood and leaf, and thus, by what the botanist calls the “arrestation of development,” cause flower and fruit to be formed instead of leaves. In the western counties, if a tree or plant of any kind grows leaves too freely, it is said to be too “frum,” probably derived from the Saxon from, strong, stout. ”

“ Everything depends on good plants and an early start in the spring, for we raise two crops the same season, and an early frost on our unripe seed is sure to ruin the crop. Now, to set the plants out and make them grow from the start, a line is stretched along one of these flat ridges, a boy goes along, and with a three-foot marker marks the spots for the plants; a man follows with a hoe and makes a hole, about the size of a quart dish, to receive each plant. ”

“ But nuts and fruit and ripe seeds are only part of the work of the trees and shrubs. All the time that they are busy producing that two feet or less of woody growth, all the time the growing and ripening of seeds is going on, there is a further and very important labor to be attended to. That is the production of next year’s buds. This is no haphazard matter, nor is it left until the other things are out of the way, but is carefully begun and{164} patiently carried on through the summer, early autumn seeing everything complete. ”

“ There is an opposite extreme to high cultivation; there are evils besetting low-cultivation. In cold, wet, stiff, barren soils, and in a cool, or humid, or cloudy atmosphere, trees require stimulants. The soil needs drying, warming, manuring; and the tree requires pruning. But such a system is ruinous, where the soil is full of fiery activity, bursting out with an irrepressible fertility and a superabundant vegetation; where the long summer days are intensely brilliant, and the air warm enough to ripen fruit even in the densest shade of an unpruned tree. ”

“ By summer pinching and rubbing off of tender shoots a tree can be made to grow in any shape we desire. When the trees receive no summer pruning, Mr. Force advises that the branches be shortened in at least one half in the spring, while some shoots are cut back even more rigorously. At the age of four or five years, according to the vigor of the trees, he permits them to bear. Now cultivation ceases, and the ground is left to grow hard, but not weedy or grassy, beneath the boughs. Every spring, just as the blossoms are falling, he spreads evenly under the branches four quarts of salt. ”

“ Soil, Propagation, and Culture.—Lovage requires a deep, rich, moist soil; and is propagated either by seeds or dividing: the roots. The seeds should be sown in August, or immediately after ripening; as, when sown in spring, they seldom vegetate well. When the young plants have made a growth of two or three inches, they should be transplanted three feet apart in each direction; and, when well established, will require little care, and continue for many years. ”

“ Why, in summer, is continued watering required to newly sown seeds?
Because, if the soil is only moistened at the time of sowing, it induces the projection of the radicle, or first root, which, in very parching weather, and in clayey cutting soil, withers away, and the crop is consequently lost, for want of a continued supply of moisture.
Why is selection important for procuring abundance of genuine seeds?
Because we may then choose the most vigorous plants, which naturally prove of greater fecundity. ”

“ To have blooming plants by holidays they are propagated by seeds, sown in spring or summer in pans or pots of light, rich, sandy soil, and kept in a close frame or hand-light, where they can be shaded till germination takes place. ”

“ The new growth can make foliage fast enough to develop the roots; still, I have not experimented carefully, and so cannot speak accurately. We see summer pruning often advocated on paper, but I have rarely met it in practice. If carefully done at the proper season, however, much can be accomplished by it in the way of making strong, stocky plants, capable of standing alone—plants full of lateral branches, like little trees, that will be loaded with fruit. ”

“ We know that each spring, as the sap rises in your veins, you put forth afresh lush green sprouts symmetrically from the buds at your growing points; and that if these sprouts were permitted to develop equally and evenly in every direction, you would have grown from the first as normally and formally as a spruce-fir or a puzzle-monkey. But not for us are such joys. We must grow as the tempests and the hail-storms permit us. Soon after you have begun each year to put forth your tender green shoots comes a frost—a nipping frost—whirled along on the wide wings of some angry sou’wester. ”

“ And the seed is taken out and is sown in spring in square beds, being very carefully cultivated; and then it is watered every fourth or fifth day; and when it has grown up it is again transplanted the next spring into a place where the ground is soft, and well-watered, and not very thin. And it bears fruit every year; some of which are fit to be gathered, and some are in flower, and some are becoming ripe at the same time. ”

“ Pruning is one of the most important operations that we perform upon plants,—especially woody plants. Pruning, in some sort, has to be performed at all periods of their existence and growth, and upon all plants, from the noble forest tree, or the fruit trees of the orchard, of [252] whatever kind, to the humble bushes and brambles that yield us their abundant and most welcome fruits: the trailing vine that adorns our arbors and covers our trellises with its rich and tempting clusters of grapes, also needs to be pruned. ”

“ When the bloom wanes, and is nearly overtopped by the leaves, the time has come that I find best for dividing and replanting. The plants then seem willing to divide, some almost falling apart in one's hands, and the new roots may be seen just beginning to form at the base of the crown. The plants are at the same time relieved of the crowded mass of flower-stem, and, therefore, of the exhausting effort of forming seed, a severe drain on their strength. ”

“ Harvesting, and Preservation during Winter.—"Before frost sets in, they must be tied up in a conical form, as before directed; and all dead or yellow leaves must be taken off. [Pg 349] Then take them up with a ball of soil to each, and put them into light earth in a cellar or some warm building. Put only the roots into the earth. Do not suffer the plants to touch each other; and pour a little water round the roots after they are placed in the earth. ”

“ Let us fix our attention on a single plant. It has a certain amount of root pasturage and space in which to grow. Since it is not permitted to produce an indefinite number of young plants, it begins to develop itself. The soil is rich, the roots are busy, and there must be an outlet. The original plant cannot form others, and therefore begins to produce fruit-crowns for the coming year. All the sap, all the increasing power of root and foliage, are directed to preparation for fruit. ”

“ As a general rule, grass seed may be planted as deeply as grain. Farmers lose much more seed from shallow than from deep planting. For although shallow-planted seed vegetates sooner, they are more liable to be winter-killed, or to perish by drought than those which are deeply covered.
THEORY OF MANURE. It is very well known that a young orchard will not, usually, flourish on the site of an old one; for the older trees are supposed to have withdrawn from the soil certain elements necessary to their growth; and as necessary to the growth of the young tree, should it be planted there. ”

“ Trees are sometimes made to produce fruit by checking their roots when too luxuriant, and by preventing the excessive development of branches." [22] Here we have the explanation of the processes of root pruning and of summer pinching, and shortening-in, which have been more extensively introduced upon another page; as well as the plan for inducing fruitfulness in such trees as are tardy from excessive wood-growth, by hacking the bark to interrupt the flow of sap from the buds to the roots ”

“ If still standing on their own roots, but decayed at the core, let them be hollowed out, deeply as may be, filled with good soil, and flowers planted in them, nasturtiums or petunias or the linums or dwarf morning-glories. Stumps that have been pulled up by the roots, and rolled into a corner, may be dressed out with ferns, vines, and mosses, and a tasteful hand will array them in such beauty that the farmer will be reluctant another season to give them up to the axe and the stove. ”

“ When the plants are fairly started in their growth, the planter tops and primes them, processes performed, the first by pinching off the top bud, which would else run to seed, and the second by removing the lower leaves of each plant, leaving bare a space of some inches near the ground, and retaining from six to a dozen stout, well-formed leaves on each stem, according to the promise of the soil and season, and these leaves form the crop. ”

“ Sowing and Cultivation.—The plants are started in a hot-bed in March, or the seeds may be sown in a seed-bed in the open ground in May. When the seedlings are four or five inches high, transplant to trenches two feet apart and six or eight inches deep, setting the plants a foot apart in the trenches; afterwards gather the earth gradually about the stems, in the process of cultivation; and, when they are sufficiently grown and blanched, harvest and preserve as Celery. ”

“ The operation of planting is performed with astonishing rapidity. A labourer takes a quantity of plants under his left arm, and drops them in bundles over the land about to be planted, as he knows, almost to a plant, what number will be required. These little bundles are then taken up, and the proper number of plants selected and plunged by the hand into the muddy soil. The water, when the hand is drawn up, immediately rushes into the hole, and carries with it a portion of soil to cover the roots, and the seedlings are thus planted and covered in without further trouble. ”

“ Shall we plant thick, as in a nursery, and then transplant, or shall we plant where they are to grow? In fruit-trees, the object is to get a low, full, and spreading top, of horizontal branches, that will bear much fruit. This is eminently promoted by transplanting, root-pruning, and heading-in. But in raising timber, the object is to get trees of long, straight bodies, with the fewest possible low branches. ”

“ He notes the germination of the plant seed and its early growth, step by step approaching a stage of maturity; it blossoms, produces seed, and if it is an annual plant, withers and dies. If it is a perennial plant its leaves only, wither and die at the approach of winter, the plant passing into a resting stage from which it awakes the following spring to repeat again its annual cycle. ”

“ Seeds.—These can be sown at almost any time, but the spring is the best, as those which germinate quickly have time to form strong young plants before the following winter. Some take two years to come up, and should be left in the ground. This refers more to seeds sown outdoors, and few hardy trees and shrubs require heat to assist germination. When sown in the open the beds should be made on a fairly rich, moist piece of ground, protected from cold winds, but fully exposed to the sun. ”

“ We prune our plants for the most opposite purposes; we prune to make them assume some desired form, we prune to produce symmetry, and we prune to torture them as much [253] as possible from their natural habit. Again, we prune to make them grow vigorously, and we perform other pruning operations, in order to dwarf and stunt our specimens, and to make them as diminutive as possible. The experienced orchardist will tell you to prune a barren but thrifty tree, in order to make it productive of fruit ”