188 THE PEACH AND NECTAKINE. 



a good example of sterile, Fig. 2 of fertile roots. The expression may 

 sound singular to many ; but the one lesson that recent adTaueements in 

 horticulture has enforced more emphatically than any other isgthat fertility 

 is more a matter of root character than top form or naanagement. 



Layers (Pig. 3) have thus an advantage over seedlings ; they form a'net- 

 work of fibrous roots, and seldom or ever any tap roots. Of course layering 

 insures the variety wanted. Each rooted shoot must be a facsimile 

 in miniature of the stock. Other modes are often adopted to insure 

 the best roots for the future trees. The stones of plums are sown 

 thickly in beds, or more thinly in rows, and are left to make one or 

 more season's growth, without any attempt to work them. These 

 seedlings are then planted out in lines, 2ft. or 3ft. apart, in November. 

 The plants are cut down to the ground in January or February : they 

 then throw up one or more shoots, the best one being mostly selected, 

 which furnishes good budding wood the same season. 



//. — By Grafting and Budding. 



Thotjoh grafting is not to be recommended generally, it may yet be prac- 

 tised successfully. The older plum stocks, instead of being cut down close 

 to the ground, may in such cases have a few inches of wood left (Fig. 4) . 

 The stocks may be cut down in March and grafted with scions selected 

 partly of old and partly of young wood. "Whip or a sort of dovetail 

 side grafting is the most suitable. A close fit in every way is of great 

 moment, so that the union may be as perfect as possible. By choosing 

 scions partially of old wood it is a comparatively easy method to get 

 the scions and stocks of almost equal sizes. The wounds should also 

 be as small as possible, so as to reduce the risk of gumming to a minimum. 

 The lower the stocks can be grafted, also, the better, so as to allow of the 

 point of union to be covered over with earth until the union is 

 completed (Fig. 5) . It is not well, however, to have any part of union 

 permanently under ground to encourage the peach to root over the stocks, 

 as in the case of pears. Long stocks for tall trees, or riders for the upper 

 parts of walls, may be grafted at any desired height and clayed or 

 pitched over in the usual way (Fig. 7) . 



Budding is by far the safest and best method of propagating peaches 

 and nectarines. Having provided the stocks, and encouraged them to 

 make a free growth, they wUl be ready for budding from June to 

 September, according to the time of planting the stocks, mode of 

 treatment, character of soil, local climate, &c. As soon as the bark on 

 the stock runs freely, and the buds of the scions are sufiiciently 



