THE PEACH. 279 



the weather be dry, watering the ground may be requisite; 



By planting the peach stones without cracking, a very 

 small portion will grow, and no regularity can be attained 

 in the rows. 



If the soil is good, and the cultivator is passed between 

 the rows as often as once a fortnight, — oftener is better, — 

 the trees will be large enough to bud by the close of 

 summer. 



In cases where the ground cannot be prepared early for 

 their reception, germination may be retarded by burying 

 the uncracked stones a foot or two beneath the surface, till 

 wanted. 



The distances of the rows asunder should be about the 

 same as for apples and other trees in the nursery, or about 

 three and a half feet. 



Plum stocks for the peach, slightly lessen the luxuriance 

 of growth, render the trees smaller, and increase their har- 

 diness for the extreme north by withholding the supply of 

 sap till later in spring, and earlier in autumn, and thus fa- 

 vor an early maturity of the young wood. Small dwarfs 

 are produced by budding on the Mirabelle, a diminutive va- 

 riety of the plum. The plum stock is also sometimes 

 employed to guard against the peach borer, a remedy often 

 unsuccessful, as that insect frequently attacks the peach 

 above the place of union. 



Unlike most other fruit trees, the peach may be trans- 

 planted in the spring next after ths insertion of the bud, 

 with scarcely a check in its growth. 



ORCHARDS. 



The selection of locality has been treated of ; the soil is a 

 matter of importance. The following remarks of A. J. 

 Downing on this subject, accord with general experience: — 



" The very best soil for the peach is a rich, deep sandy 

 loam ; next to this, a strong mellow loam ; then a light, 

 thin, sandy soil, and the poorest, is a heavy, compact clay 

 soil. We are very well aware that the extensive and pro- 

 fitable appropriation of thousands of acres of this lightest 

 sandy soil in New-Jersey and Delaware, has led many to 

 believe that this is the best soil for the peach. But such is 

 not the fact, and the short duration of this tree in those dis- 



