CHAPTER XII. 



THE PEACH. 



FOUR HALF-POUND BEAUTIES 



A farm -without some Peach trees is like milk without cream. Tim. 



The peach is not a native of America. Probably 

 the peach originated in China; from thence it went 

 to Persia and to Europe. 



PROPAGATION. Bud 

 known varieties on to 

 seedling peach stocks, 

 close to the ground. A 

 thrifty tree one year from 

 the bud is the right size 

 to set. When buying 

 trees, choose medium size, 

 straight ones ; let the 

 big, overgrown fellows alone. (Note : Plums are 

 sometimes used for stocks, if the peach orchard must 

 be planted on rather heavy, damp soil.) 



VARIETIES WHICH ARE OFTEN SEI,F-STERII<E. 



Under this heading S. W. Fletcher lists only one kind 

 of peach, viz. the Susquehanna. 



PRUNING. Of all fruit trees the peach seems 

 to need the most trimming (the dwarf pear is 

 a close second in this respect). Each season the 

 trees should be pruned cutting them back and 

 thinning them out, both. Cutting off one-half or 

 two-thirds of the new growth each year, is not 

 too much. Remember that the peach (unlike the 



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