PROPAGATION 9 



or deliberate fraud. The fact is, that good clean 

 nursery trees of the same size, weight and develop- 

 ment are all worth precisely the same without 

 reference to the methods whereby they were propa- 

 gated. The particular method of budding or graft- 

 ing is not worth a picayune' to the thousand. 



As budding is more extensively prac- 

 ticed with the peach than with any other 

 fruit, we may most easily describe the 

 m€thod used in that work. The modifica- 

 tions of method required in budding 

 apples, pears or plums are mostly unim- 

 portant, and would occur to any novice 

 who might try to make the application for 

 himself. 



The stocks are grown in place, in the 

 rows where they are to be budded. The 

 peach pits are planted in these rows in 

 early spring, and by the time they are 

 required in the last half of August, the 

 young seedlings should have a height of fig.'g 

 3 to 4 feet, and a diameter at the ground budding 

 of J4 to ^ inches. 



Budding time runs from the first of August to the 

 first of October, depending partly on the growth, 

 but chiefly on the condition of the stocks as deter- 

 mined by the conditions of weather. The regular 

 test is made by observing whether the bark slips. 

 The bark on the stock should peel or slip easily, just 

 as it must on willow shoots when willow whistles 

 have to be made. The stocks are then put in readi- 

 ness by mild pruning, the lower branches, to a 

 height of a foot, from the ground, being rubbed or 

 cut off. This must not be done, however, till the 

 hour when the buds are to be set. 



