318 C THE PEACH AND THE NECTARINE 



as new sorts. Seedlings are often used as stock for 

 approved cultivated varieties and may be budded or 

 grafted when their stem has reached the thickness of 

 about 2 c. m. However, the peach and the nectarine 

 grown on own roots, or budded or grafted on peach or 

 nectarine seedlings are short-lived and very liable to 

 gumming, and therefore propagation by seed should 

 be followed only when it is proposed to raise new 

 varieties, although of course chance seedlings may be 

 allowed to fruit or made use of as stock. 



The other method of propagation consists in budding 

 or grafting on the almond or on the plum. All sorts of 

 plums may be used as stock for the peach and the necta- 

 rine, and this method is generally followed in France and 

 other continental countries, where the sloe-tree or black- 

 thorn ( Prunus spinosa ) is the preferred stock for all 

 forms of the peach and nectarine, but the use of the 

 cherry plum or mirabella plum (P. myrobolana) and of 

 the bullace or wild damson (P. domestica var. insititicC) is 

 also known to give good results The peach grafted on 

 these wild plums is generally very productive, but here at 

 least it never attains a fair size and is short-lived. Graft- 

 ing or budding on the almond is the method commonly 

 followed by our gardeners, and should be preferred to all 

 others. Peaches or nectarines grafted on the almond 

 partake of the vigorous nature of the stock, make strong 

 growth, attain a large size, are comparatively long-lived, 

 and are very resistant to drought and adapt themselves 

 to soils of inferior quality without much difficulty. 



Both the bitter and the sweet almonds are used as 

 stock for the peach and nectarine, the bitter almond 

 being generally preferred although it has no real superio- 

 rity over the sweet almond. The almond may be sown 

 in place, and afterwards budded or grafted when 

 strong enough, that is in two or tree years, but this 

 method can be followed only if it is proposed to grow the 

 peach in small numbers along the boundaries of an 



