228 PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



growing species, or for the multiplication of distinct 

 varieties ; but of the latter, few or none have as yet been 

 discovered worthy of a place among choice garden and 

 orchard fruits. 



PEACH. Seedling Peach stocks are principally em- 

 ployed in propagating the improved varieties. The best 

 stocks are raised from what may be considered the in- 

 ferior varieties, or, as usually termed, " wilding," that are 

 on their own roots, not having been budded or grafted. 

 Of late years, in this country, some care has been neces- 

 sary in selecting seed in order to obtain it from trees that 

 were free from a common disease of the Peach known as 

 "yellows." Seedlings of one season's growth are pre- 

 ferred to older ones, and if the Peach stones are planted 

 in moderately rich soil in spring, they will usually produce 

 stocks strong enough to receive a bud by the ensuing 

 August or September. If the bud " takes," the stocks* 

 may be headed back the following spring to within four 

 inches of the inserted bud, and later in the season cut 

 down close to the base of the young shoot produced from 

 the bud. In planting the Peach stone or seed, they 

 should be dropped about one foot apart in the row, or at 

 a sufficient distance apart to admit of budding at the 

 proper time. 



Plum stocks are also employed for the Peach, especially 

 in Europe, where the trees are trained to walls and kept 

 low in the form of dwarfs, or cultivated in peach-houses 

 under glass. The Plum is naturally a slower growing 

 and a smaller tree than the Peach, hence its influence as a 

 stock is to dwarf the growth. The Plum stock is no 

 doubt preferable where the trees are to be trained low, or 

 planted in stiff, cold, or clayey soils ; but where the Peach 

 thrives as an orchard tree, as it does in the light, warm 

 soils of our best peach-growing districts, the natural stock 

 is no doubt the best, although not quite so hardy or free 

 from insect enemies as the Plum. 



