34 PEACH CtTLTUKK. 



nral fruit, there was no difficulty in obtaining ' seed ; but 

 in late years nearly all our old orchards of natural fruit 

 have been abandoned and allowed to go into decay. 

 Besides this, the cultivation of the peach has been so 

 much extended, and the demand for seed so much in- 

 creased, that it has become comparatively scarce. And 

 while it used to be procured at almost a nominal price, 

 say twenty-five cents a bushel, it now commands as much 

 as wheat, and sometimes more. We are not aware of 

 any place where orchards of natural fruit are maintained 

 for the specific purpose of producing seed. That has not 

 yet become necessary. In several of the States, especially 

 in !N'ew Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and 

 Virginia, there are still remnants of old orchards, isolated 

 rows, or scattering trees of natural fruit," which are toler- 

 ated as relics of the past, or cherished as reminiscences 

 of youthful pleasures and enjoyments, recalling the mem- 

 ories of a revered ancestry. From these old trees, 

 broken down and renewed, perhaps a dozen times, comes 

 cur good seed, which is to furnish excellent stocks for our 

 young, broad, and numerous orchards of later days. 

 Besides these, in many nurseries a natural tree will spring 

 up, escape detection, be shipped, and planted with the 

 budded ones, and never discovered until in bearing ; then 

 pity lets it stand ; and it, too, furnishes more good seed. 

 This seed is saved by the children or tenants of the plant- 

 ers, taken to the nearest store, and thus finds its way to 

 market. Honest men, whether planters or merchants, 

 deal in no other ; but the love of gain is so strong in many 

 as to induce them to oflFer and buy the seed of the budded 

 fruit, and large quantities of it get into market, where it is 

 re-purchased by ignorant or reckless nurserymen and plant- 

 ed ; and thus thousands of inferior or diseased trees are 

 scattered over the country, to bring loss and disappoint- 

 ment, where fortune and satisfaction would otherwise have 

 attended. Hence, the great importance of nurserymen 



