104 FRUIT GARDEN. 



succeeding as a standard in favorable situations in England 

 and Ireland. But with this desirable object in view, we 

 would rather see the number of the kinds diminished than 

 increased ; and it would be well for the country were all 

 the indifferent sorts banished from the nursery catalogues. 



To perpetuate and multiply valuable varieties, peaches 

 and nectarines are budded upon plum or almond stocks. 

 For dry situations, almond stocks are preferable ; and for 

 damp or clayey loams, it is better to use plums. An al- 

 mond budded on a plum stock may be rebudded with a ten- 

 der peach, greatly to the advantage of the latter. The 

 peach border should be composed of a light mellow loam, 

 such as is suitable for the vine and the fig, put in as rough 

 as possible, or not broken small and fine. It should be well 

 drained, or rendered quite free from all stagnant water, or 

 latent dampness. It need not be of great depth, perhaps 

 eighteen inches ; for the peach tree thrives best, and is 

 most productive, when the roots are near the surface of 

 the ground. We believe that, in many instances, all that 

 is required to remedy sickly and unfruitful trees is to bring 

 up their roots within five or six inches of the surface. In 

 England, nothing is a greater obstacle to success in peach 

 culture than trenching the borders, and cropping them 

 heavily with culinary vegetables. 



The fruit of the peach is produced on the twiggy shoots 

 of the preceding year. If these be too luxuriant, they 

 yield nothing but leaves ; and if too weak, they are incapa- 

 ble of maturing the fruit. To furnish these, then, in suffi- 

 cient abundance, and of requisite strength, is the great ob- 

 ject of peach-training and pruning. All twiggy trees 

 naturally fall into the fan form ; and, accordingly, this has 

 generally been adopted in the culture of peaches. 



We shall first, therefore, notice the old English method, 



