THE NURSERY-LIST 381 



they give hardier and stronger roots than peach seedlings, especially 

 in dry soils. On soils too moist for peach roots, St. Julian plum 

 stocks have been used as well as myrobalan plums, but plum stocks 

 tend to dwarf the trees, and the union is frequently imperfect; 

 they are therefore little used at present. Apricot seedlings have 

 been used, but possess no special merit. The "wild peach of China" 

 (Prunus, or Amygdalus, Davidiana) is attracting attention in 

 some regions as a hardy peach stock, but it has not passed the 

 experimental stage and it clearly is not adapted to growing in 

 all sections. The western sand cherry (Prunus Besseyi) is used to a 

 very limited extent as a dwarfing stock. 



Peach pits or seeds for growing seedling stocks come mainly 

 from " natural," that is, seedling, peach trees and orchards that 

 abound in the Appalachian mountain districts of North Carolina, 

 Tennessee and adjacent areas. On the Pacific Coast, the pits of 

 certain varieties, such as Salwey, Morris White and Strawberry, are 

 commonly used. Pits from eastern canneries are considered un- 

 desirable because of the danger of " yellows" and because they are 

 so variable in size as to interfere in handling them in a peach-pit 

 planter, besides producing seedlings varying widely in size. The 

 conviction among nurserymen is that the " natural " pits produce 

 stronger seedlings, and more uniform in size, than do those from 

 the " budded " or named varieties. 



The seeds or pits may be planted in the autumn in drills, where 

 the nursery is to be located, and covered about 2 inches deep, or 

 they may be bedded or stratified in sand in late summer or autumn 

 where they are kept moist and subjected to freezing during winter ; 

 this treatment results in cracking the pits, thus releasing the 

 kernels. So long as the kernels remain incased in the pits, they can 

 not germinate. In bedding the pits, an excavation 12 or 15 inches 

 deep is made in a well-drained spot and the pits are placed in it in 

 layers, alternating with sand in essentially the same way as when 

 they are stratified in a box. 



In the early spring the pits are separated from the sand by sifting 

 and hand sorting, and planted in drills where they are to grow, being 

 covered 1^ to 2 inches deep. If only a few seeds are concerned, 

 the pits may be cracked by hand without other treatment and 

 planted at once, but this is too slow for commercial work. In the 

 South where there are no hard freezing temperatures, dependence 

 is placed on long-continued subjection of the pits to moisture to 

 crack them. They are kept particularly moist when stratified, or 



