186 THE PEACH AND NECTABINE. 



fairly up they' may be lined out in rows, at oonyenient distances, for 

 budding'. This early removal of the young plants checks the develop* 

 ment of tap roots and causes a more fibry habit, which is of great advan- 

 tage to the future fertility and well-doing of the tree. 



Almonds may be raised from seeds for stocks exactly in the same way 

 as peaches ; in fact, an almond may almost be said to be a peach, with 

 little or no pulp outside its stone or kernel. That little is mostly also- 

 hard, bitter, and comparatively worthless. But itis obvious thatthe amount; 

 or quality of this external covering can affect the seed or plant produced', 

 from it little or none. Hence it is found that almond stocks are as good 

 or better for peaches than the peach itself. They are extensively used' 

 for this purpose in France and other warm countries. It is, therefore,, 

 probable that the almond might prove a suitable stock for the peach in 

 the more southern counties in England. One great drawback to the 

 use of almonds for stocks is their precocious habit. With such fickle^ 

 springs as prevail throughout the greater part of the country, any stock that 

 would check rather than foster early growth would prove useful. This is a 

 point that has not yet received the attention it deserves. It is obvious that: 

 the stock on which peaches are worked exert a powerful influence 

 on their general health and character. For example, peaches mounted 

 on peach and almond stocks are weaker, narrower leaved, of a paler- 

 colour, and shorter lived than those worked on plums. This proves 

 beyond controversy the potency of the stock over the scion. Surely advan- 

 tage might be taken of this power to force peaches to flower and grow- 

 later in the season. But the fact is, the choice of stocks has been almost 

 whoUy left in the hands of the sellers of peaches and other fruit trees. 

 Their primary, almost only interest, may often be the getting up of the- 

 greatest number of saleable trees in the shortest possible time. But, to 

 return to almonds — it Seems aU are not equally suitable for peach 

 stocks. The French, who use almonds extensively for peach and necta- 

 rine stocks, prefer the hard-shelled sweet almond to aU others. Of 

 course, the peach takes freely on the almond, and there is less disparity 

 between the growth of the scion and the stock than between the peach, 

 and most plums that are used as stocks for it. The incongruity between 

 these two is made only too obvious by the huge overgrowths of the peach,, 

 overlapping the point of union between stock and scion like a huge- 

 vegetable wen. These monstrous growths, arising from the inabiliiy of" 

 the stock to keep pace with the scion, often become the fruitful sources 

 of gum, canker, and most of the other evils that the peach is heir to — or- 

 rather, that are forced upon it by the fatal mistakes of cultivators, 

 who are, perhaps, never more at sea than in the choice of stocks on 

 which to work their favourite varieties. Mistakes here, like those in- 



