THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 87 



a clue to its value as a stock — ■ it may be used for all. It is the commonest 

 stock for all of these fruits in parts of China and is sometimes used for the 

 cherr)' as well. It is reported by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture ' to have been tried in commercial plantings of peaches, plums, 

 apricots and almonds in California and Texas and for all is " unusually 

 promising." 



The trees are vigorous, healthy, hardy, and resistant to drouth. Con- 

 sorted with any stone-fruit it should impart these qualities in some degree 

 to the resulting tree. On the Station grounds, Primus davidiana is growing 

 with vigor and health despite the fact that in the ten years of its existence 

 here we have had all but record-breaking extremes of cold, heat, drouth and 

 rain — a decade long to be noted for its extremes of weather. It seems 

 to stand the heat of Texas, and in Minnesota has withstood cold as low 

 as forty degrees below zero, a temperature which kills commercial varieties 

 to the ground. It cannot be fruited, however, in cold climates as its buds 

 swell quickly with rises of temperature and succumb to subsequent cold; 

 neither will it fruit in regions of late frost since it is one of the earliest species 

 in the genus Prunus to flower. In Texas and southern California, accord- 

 ing to the United States Department of Agriculture, it is proving resistant 

 to drouth and in the latter region to alkali as well. In very dry and exposed 

 places, it is said to lose its tree-characters and to become a thrifty shrub. 



Present nursery practices in growing peaches are unsatisfactory in 

 the extreme. More and more, pits from canneries are being planted for 

 stocks. The pits come from a great diversity of varieties and the resulting 

 seedlings are variable in vigor, health, size and capacity to take the bud. 

 Should no un surmountable weaknesses appear in Prunus davidiana it is 

 almost certain that its seedlings will be more satisfactory as stocks for 

 the peach than those from either cannery pits or from pits grown on 

 southern wild trees. The trees do not fruit well in this climate, even 

 when buds and flowers escape the cold, possibly because of infertility of 

 bloom, and for this reason, the chief objection so far, some favorable region 

 would have to be discovered in which to grow the pits. 



As one might suspect from its similarities to the several stone-fruits, 

 Prunus davidiana gives promise of being a go-between in hybridization. 

 I. V. Mijurin, a noted Russian hybridist of Kozloo, Russia, has crossed the 

 Davidiana peach and the dwarf almond, Prunus nana, with the idea of 

 getting a hardy fruit for central Russia. The resulting offspring, accord- 



' V. S. D. A. Plant Immii^rauls No. ii5:m'). i ■-. 



