THE PEACH. 135 



THE PEACH. 



Soil. The peach requires a deep open soil, of medium 

 consistency, containing a certain proportion of calcareous 

 matter, and, which is very important, the soil must be 

 free from all superabundant moisture. Soils which do not 

 possess these qualities must have them imparted by other 

 soils being added, and thoroughly mixed by deep digging. 



The peach is almost always cultivated as a wall tree ; 

 the aspect may be east, south, or south-west, but it 

 prefers the south-east. 



Choice of Trees. Peaches are generally planted 

 already grafted. They should be grafts of only one 

 year, healthy, vigorous, and with well-formed buds at 

 the base. The kind of stock in which the peach is 

 budded has much to do with the success of the tree. 



The stocks most suited for the peach and nectarine, 

 for out-door planting in England, are the muscle plum, 

 St. Julian plum, and pear plum the two latter for the 

 more delicate kinds, and for pot culture, but the muscle 

 for general planting. 



For deep dry soils the almond forms the best stock, 

 for more humid soils the plum, the roots of which are less 

 liable to strike deeply into the soil than the almond ; un- 



