274 On Peach Trees, 



A simple plain history of a single tree, will give you 

 the best idea of my practice, and a comment or two will 

 be sufficient to express my reasons for that practice 

 where it differs from common usage. 



The peach stone with others, during the winter, lay 

 covered with earth about four inches deep, and about 

 the 20th of March was laid upon the ground, on its side, 

 and covered about two inches deep with good garden 

 mould, in the place where the tree was intended to stand. 

 When it rose high enough to shoot out side branches, 

 they were cut off near to the main stem, taking great 

 care not to injure the leaf that stood at the base of each 

 side shoot. On the preservation of those leaves \ relied 

 for a vigorous growth in the young tree ; having ob- 

 served, that where those leaves were destroyed, the 

 growth of the tree was stopped for about two weeks : 

 whereas when the branches were cut off and the leaves 

 were preserved, the growth was not only uninterrupted 

 but was evidently accelerated. In August of the same 

 season, a bud was taken from the Madeira free stone 

 peach tree, and set in the yomig tree at about eight 

 inches above ground. *^ The bud was set thus early in 

 the young tree from a settled opinion, that a fruit bear- 

 ing tree could, by this means, be procured sooner, than 

 by deferring the inoculation until the next year; and it 

 was secured by a bandage of woolen yarn capable of 

 yielding to the growth, without beaiing too hard upon 

 the bark of so young a shoot. In four weeks, or less, 

 the bandage was removed, to prevent its injuring the 



* Later experience has shewn, that setting the bud within 

 one inch of the ground, would have been more advantageous. 



