THE NURSERY-LIST 383 



back process is continued till the buds have developed a length of 

 3 to 4 inches, when the stocks may be cut off and all the leaves 

 cleaned up. 



Peach trees may be grafted and this practice is sometimes followed 

 in top-working trees several years of age ; but when it is desired to 

 change the variety, it is better to do so by budding, since the 

 wounds made in grafting do not heal readily. 



As buds can be set successfully only in wood of the current 

 season's growth, it is necessary to head back old trees severely 

 and get a vigorous growth of sprouts if it is desired to work them 

 over to other varieties. 



Ornamental peaches (as double-flowered varieties) are budded 

 on common peach stock in the same way as the fruit-bearing sorts. 



The nectarine is propagated in the same way and on the same 

 stocks as the peach. For Prunus Simonii, see Plum. 



Peanut, Goober (Arachis kypogcea). Leguminosce. 



Grown from seeds, which, for greenhouses or cold climates, 

 should be sown in heat. In warm exposures and quick soil in the 

 North, seeds planted directly in the open will give satisfactory 

 results for the amateur. The peanut, as a field crop in the South, 

 is grown from seeds planted where the crop is to stand. The 

 seed of the thick-podded kinds is shelled before planting, but not 

 of the thin-podded kinds. The seed is planted at the same season 

 as corn (maize), 6 to 10 inches apart in the row, and the rows 2j 

 to 3 feet apart. 

 Pear (Pyrus communis, P. serotina and perhaps others). Rosacece. 



Pear seedlings are grown in the same way as those of the apple, 

 which see. Pear stocks are imported from France, however, as the 

 leaf-blight is so destructive to them here as to render their culture 

 unprofitable. This leaf-blight is a fungus, and recent experiment 

 has shown that it can be readily overcome by four or five thorough 

 sprayings with bordeaux mixture, so that there is reason to hope 

 that the growing of pear stocks may yet become profitable in this 

 country, although the higher price of labor here, and the drier sum- 

 mers, are serious disadvantages. Heretofore, the only means of 

 mitigating the ravages of this blight was the uncertain one of in- 

 ducing a strong growth early in the season. Evenwhen pear stocks 

 are raised in this country, they are grown from imported French 

 seed. Aside from its cheapness, however, this foreign seed probably 

 possesses no superiority over domestic seed. But pear seed is so 



