44 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



cost of production that it hardly seems feasible for 

 the fruit grower to compete with the nurseryman. 

 Either business is a big undertaking by itself and 

 very few men can succeed in both lines, no matter 

 how good their opportunities. 



However, the peach trees have to be propagated 

 by some one, and a brief description of the best 

 methods should be given here. This will be less 

 directly useful to the nurseryman than to the ama- 

 teur who amuses himself with a few trees in his own 

 garden. This book is written primarily for fruit 

 growers, and the author hardly has the presumption 

 to suppose that he can teach the nurseryman any- 

 thing about the propagation of peach trees. 



PROPAGATION 



The propagation of the peach tree begins with the 

 planting of the seed. It must be understood at once 

 that this seed is not intended to develop into a tree 

 itself and reproduce its kind. The seed is simply 

 planted for the growing of a stock which is after- 

 wards budded to the desired variety. 



Any sort of peach seed will do, and the home gar- 

 dener going at the business in a small way need give 

 himself very little concern in selecting his pits. It 

 will be well, of course, if he can secure seed from 

 healthy, vigorous trees. Experienced growers have 

 a prejudice in favor of taking seed all from one 

 variety and some have especial preference for 

 Crosby in this connection. However, this point is 

 too trivial to occupy much attention. The two cus- 

 tomary sources of supply for the big propagators 

 are (a) the canning factories, (b) and the collectors 

 of so-called southern "wild" seed. When peaches 

 are canned at the canneries, the seeds taken out 

 constitute a more or less important by-product. 



