260 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



trees bearing an indifferent fruit, can be headed down and 

 grafted as readily as apples, but this requires to be done a 

 month earlier in the spring, and before the buds begin to swell. 

 The best kinds are the Yellow, Green, Autumn, Bleecker's, 

 Imperial, Prince's Yellow, Frost, Purple, and the Red 

 Gages ; Coe's Golden Drop, the Jefferson, the Grange, the 

 Washington, the Columbia, Smith's Orleans, and the Red 

 Magnum Bonum. 



This last variety is more liable to the attacks of the curcu- 

 lio than many others. But its vigorous growth, great pro- 

 ductiveness when not attacked, and its excellent quality for 

 the table render it a desirable fruit. For drying, the Ger- 

 man prune is perhaps the best, although several of the plums 

 above named answer an excellent purpose. I have enume- 

 rated a larger variety of plums from the difficulty of cultiva- 

 ting the peach successfully in many parts of the northern 

 States. They ripen nearly at the same time, and though 

 not as delicious nor generally as popular, they are the best sub- 

 stitutes for it. Although liable to several diseases, the plum 

 is more hardy and durable than the peach, and its cultivation 

 is comparatively easy. 



THE PEACH. 



In the early settlement of our cotmtry and on virgin 

 soil, the peach was easily propagated, free from disease, an 

 abundant bearer and comparatively long-lived. If we ex- 

 cept the first feature in its early history, we shall find it 

 generally, differing widely in each of the others at the present 

 day. It has become subject to so many casualties, as to have 

 been almost entirely discarded in large sections of the United 

 States, where it once flourished in the highest perfection. 

 It is now most frequently reared on an extensive scale for 

 market, by those who make it an exclusive business. 



Its favorite soil is a light, warm, sandy or gravelly loam, 

 in a sunny exposure, protected from severe bleak winds. 

 Thus situated and in favorable latitudes, it grows with great 

 luxuriance and produces the most luscious fruit. In western 

 New York, and on most of the southern borders of the great 

 lakes, the peach grows more vigorously and lives longer than 

 in any other sections of the United States, frequently lasting 

 20 to 30 years, and bearing constantly and in abundance. 

 Peaches are produced in immense quantities on the light 

 soils near the Atlantic coast, in the States of New Jersey 



