The Peach. 91 



Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, Michigan, Connecti- 

 cut, New York, Colorado and the Pacific States. The crop 

 is quite uncertain throughout most of the Mississippi Val- 

 ley and Gulf States owing to the sensitiveness of the flower 

 buds to warm weather in winter, which causes them to 

 swell at the least provocation. Under ordinary circum- 

 stances the dormant flower buds are destroj'ed by a tem- 

 perature of 12 to 15 degrees below zero, F., though they 

 have sometimes endured a considerably lower temperature. 

 When slightly swelled by untimely warm weather, they 

 are often cut off at a temperature of only 5 or 6 degrees 

 below zero. 



A careful study of local conditions might extend the 

 culture of the peach to many new sections of small extent. 



It is groAvn commercially to some extent in the most 

 favored regions of Canada, 



114. Fruiting habit. The flower buds of the peach are 

 formed rather late in the growing season, on either side of 

 the buds, in the axils of the leaves on the young shoots. 

 Rarely, the axillary bud also flowers. The flowers are 

 single and open before the leaves expand. The trees often 

 begin fruiting at three years of age. 



115. Propagation. The peach is more precocious than 

 most other tree fruits. Stocks may be budded the same 

 season the pits are planted, and in the southern states, 

 the young trees may be planted in the orchard the follow- 

 ing spring. In the north, trees grown one year in the 

 nursery after budding are preferred. 



The peach is commonly budded upon its own seedlings. 

 For stocks, only the seeds of hardy and late varieties, from 

 orchards not subject to yellows (121), should be used. The 

 pits may be kept in a cellar without stratification until 

 winter, when they should be stratified and exposed to freez- 



