1 68 AGRICULTURE 



both are natives of the Old World. The peach thrives best in a 

 sandy soil. It does well on a clay soil, however, if it be well drained. 

 Peach trees come into bearing early and are short-lived. They 

 are often planted between apple trees in an orchard; they mature 

 and can be cut out before the apple trees begin to bear. 



The Cherry. The cherry, like the peach, prefers a light soil. 

 There are many varieties of wild cherries in America, but most 

 of our cultivated cherries are derived from two European varieties, 

 the hearts and the mo rel los. The morellos, which are sour, are 

 the hardier. 



The Plum. Plums prefer a clay soil. Those grown on peach 

 roots, however, thrive on sandy soils. The gage and other Euro- 

 pean varieties thrive in the northern states; the Japanese ones 

 are better adapted to the South; in the Northwest, only the native 

 American plums are hardy. 



The Lemon, Orange, and Citrange. Oranges and lemons are 

 tender tropical trees. They are grown in our southern states, 

 but even in Florida the weather is sometimes severe enough to 

 injure or even to destroy them. 



Scientists are trying to breed hardy fruits of this family, and 

 doubtless they will succeed. A new fruit, the cit range', has been 

 created by crossing the little hardy Japanese orange with the 

 Florida orange. The citrange is so acid that it resembles the lemon 

 more than the orange; it is quite hardy in the Gulf and South 

 Atlantic states. 



How Fruit Trees are Raised. If you wish a crop of a certain 

 kind of corn, you plant seed of that variety. But this is not the 

 way in which you get a desired variety of apples or pears. Their 

 seed do not ' come true,' as farmers say. Seedlings, or trees from 

 seeds, instead of resembling their parents, may be like the wild 

 fruits from which they originated. You may plant seed from a 



