148 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



an authority of the highest order in the propagation 

 of peaches and nectarines. 



The stocks used for hudding the peach and necta- 

 rine on are the Mussel plum, and the Brompton or 

 Mignonne plum. The stocks are raised by layering in 

 the ordinary way. In preparing them for budding, they 

 are dressed and cut to the height of about 2 feet, and 

 planted out in autumn or early winter in lines. The 

 following autumn they are taken up, assorted, and again 

 planted in lines, but wider apart than the previous or 

 first year. The succeeding summer, generally from the 

 middle of July to the middle of August, they are budded 

 with the desired varieties of peaches and nectarines. 

 The following summer the buds make their first growth, 

 and the trees are termed " dwarf maidens." In the 

 autumn of the same year they are taken up, root-pruned, 

 and planted in lines 4 feet apart, and 2 feet from plant 

 to plant. Their growth, which generally consists of one 

 strong shoot, is allowed to remain intact till the follow- 

 ing spring. 



They are then cut back more or less closely, with the 

 view of securing the production of one central and two 

 lateral shoots right and left ; consequently not less than 

 three buds must be left in the process of pruning. The tree 

 is thus with its three growths termed a one-year-trained 

 tree. In the spring of the following year each of these 

 three shoots is cut back to from three to four buds from 

 the base, so as to secure a tree with from 9 to 10 shoots. 

 The tree having perfected the growth of these shoots, it 

 is, as far as its nursery career is concerned, a full- 

 trained tree (fig. 15), and is ready for being transferred 

 from the nursery-rows to the peach-house trellis. 



In the case of new varieties, the process of producing 



