WINTER MEETING. 123 



All new varieties of the pear must, of course, be obtained by sow- 

 ing the seed. The established varieties are multiplied by budding and 

 grafting. What are known as standards are budded or grafted onto 

 one-year-old French pear seedlings. The dwarfs are worked on the 

 Algiers quince. Pear suckers are sometimes used, but the seedlings 

 are preferable. To grow healthy seedlings for stocks, care should be 

 taken to collect the seed from plump, full fruit, and only from the most 

 healthy, vigorous trees. The seeds are treated the same as apple 

 seeds. 



The plants are set about one foot apart in the nursery rows, and 

 the rows should be about three feet apart. About the first of August 

 the bark will separate easily from the wood, and the stocks may then 

 be budded with the varieties wanted. All buds should, of course, be 

 taken from young, healthy trees. For dwarfing the pear the Algiers 

 quince is the best stock yet known. It is propagated by mound-lay- 

 ering, in the same manner as the Doucin and Paradise. When one 

 year old they are set in the nursery rows and treated the same as pear 

 seedlings. 



PROPAGATING PEACHES. 



The peach is propagated by budding the standard varieties onto 

 the stocks of the seedling peach. The plum seedling is sometimes 

 used on a stiiT, heavy soil where the peach does not succeed. Many 

 nurserymen grow the stocks by sowing the pits thickly in rows about 

 three feet apart and about three inches deep. These stocks are budded 

 near the ground the first summer from the pits. 



Some nurserymen place the seed in stratified heaps of seed and 

 sand in the fall, and allow them to remain through the winter to burst 

 their hulls. As the hulls burst the kernels are planted in the nursery 

 rows. The budding is usually done in August. In selecting the seed, 

 great care should be taken to collect only from the most healthy trees. 

 The seed should also be taken from the fruit of the seedling trees, as 

 it is more certain to germinate, is more hardy, and the trees live 

 longer. 



The apricot and nectarine are worked in the same way and upon 

 the same stocks as the peach. 



THE CHERRY. 



The cherry is propagated by budding onto the Mazzard and Maha- 

 leb stocks. The Mazzard is used to obtain the standard orchard trees, 

 and the Mahaleb for the dwarfs. The stocks are produced from seed. 

 The fruit should be left on the tree until it is thoroughly ripe. It is 

 then picked, the pulp washed off, then dried and mixed with moist sand, 



