68 



NATURE STUDY MADE EASY 



LESSON XXII 



LIFE HISTORY OF A PEACH 



The peach is one of the most beautiful fruit 

 trees. Its lovely mellow fruit appears smiling 

 among the dark green leaves in the early fall. 

 How delicious it is ! We eat the juicy fruit 

 and throw away the hard, dented kernel that we 

 find inside. This is just what the peach wants 

 us to do. That hard stone contains a very pre- 

 cious seed. In that seed is the baby peach 

 tree. If a peach stone falls in a suitable place, 

 it will by and by be pushed into the moist 

 ground. There it will lie all winter. 

 In the spring the warm rays of the sun will reach through to it ; 

 the rains will moisten it, and by and by the hard stone will 

 separate into two halves, and the real seed will be found inside. 

 Ijty and by the tough skin will burst, and the little baby peach 

 tree will push down its tiny rootlets into the ground, and will 

 send up its tiny leaves into the air. In a short time more leaves 

 will appear, held aloft on a stem about one inch high. The 

 rootlets will push down the same distance into the ground. 

 After a few years it will bear blossoms and fruit. The first fruit 

 found on the tree is small and sour. 



The best peaches are obtained by "budding" or "grafting." 



PEACH BLOSSOMS 



