PEACHES* 367 



the Muscle stock ; the stocks raised from the common plums 

 will also answer very well; however, the stocks must be seed- 

 lings, and if they are young, thrifty, and about the size of the 

 little finger, they will be in good order for budding. They 

 ought to be budded low, say nine inches or a foot from the 

 ground, and about the middle or latter end of July, will be the 

 right time for the operation ; in the southern states a month 

 or six weeks later ; after they have been budded about two 

 weeks, the ligature may be removed or slackened off those 

 that have taken ; the stock must be headed down to the bud 

 in the spring following. The next autumn or following 

 spring they Vv'ill be fit for transplanting, if intended for 

 dwarfs, or as espaliers ; if wanted for standards, they may 

 remain another summer in the nursery, and the only pruning 

 required will be to take off the side shoots close to the stem 

 to the height required to form the head, leaving four shoots 

 at top for that purpose. 



STANDARDS. 



Either in the fall, or as soon as the trees have finished 

 their growth, or as early in the spring as the season will ad- 

 mit, the trees should be taken from the nursery, with good 

 roots, let them be planted out, digging the hole large, and 

 breaking the earth with the back of the spade ; and when 

 the tree is well set down with the foot, a good stake let down 

 to tie the tree and keep it steady v/ill be very beneficial to its 

 rooting and free growth ; the shoots forming the head may 

 then be shortened, to three or four eyes ; the ground should 

 be kept cultivated round the roots, suffering no weeds nor 

 grass to grow near them. Every fall some good rotten ma- 

 nure should be . put round the roots, which should be dug 

 down in the spring. 



PRUNING. 



In the months of February and March, the trees should be 

 pruned ; the branches should be thinned out where they 

 Ptand too near each other ; and, as all the young wood of the 

 former season's grovv'th is this season to produce fruit, the 

 strong shoots should be shortened about one third, always 

 cutting to a triple bud ; this will cause the lower eyes to 

 fihoot and bear fruit, the small and weak shoots either cut 



