1538 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



during the early part of the growing 

 season. 



Tlie June Buds 



For some years American nurserymen 

 have heen practicing a special method 

 of propagating the peach known as June 

 budding. This differs from the process 

 already described in the earlier insertion 

 of the bud and in the different results 

 which follow. The buds are set as early 

 as possible in the season, which in mid- 

 dle and Southern latitudes means during 

 the month of June. Of course the stocks 

 are planted early and forced to their ut- 

 most growth m order to be ready for 

 this extra early budding. Though the 

 bark of the stocks does not slip so well 

 during June as during favorable weather 

 in August, it may, nevertheless, be 

 handled successfully by an expert bud- 

 der. Some care, moreover, is to be exer- 

 cised in securing scions on which the 

 buds are sufficiently mature for use at 

 this time. In this form of budding it is 

 customary to set the buds considerably 

 higher and to destroy all but a few good 

 leaves on the stock below the bud. As 

 soon as the bud has grown fast the top 

 above the bud is cut away. Occasionally 

 this is done a little at a time, in two or 

 three operations, in order not to give the 

 tree too severe a check. The raffia ties 

 have to be removed very quickly, usually 

 "Within five or ten days, as the stocks are 

 necessarily growing very rapidly at this 

 season. 



Adi antage 

 The buds now start into growth within 

 from two to four weeks after being set, 

 and with a favorable season will make a 

 growth of from two to four feet in the 

 same year they are set. Thus we come 

 to the most important practical advan- 

 tage—namely, that we secure a merchant- 

 able peach tree one year earlier than 

 -can be done by the usual methods. These 

 trees are universally known as "June 

 buds." A few years ago, when there was 

 a special fever of peach-planting, nursery- 

 men produced enormous quantities of 

 June buds in order to meet this special 

 demand. At present the production of 

 June buds is falling off considerably, 



partly because of reduced plantings of 

 peach trees and partly because fruit 

 growers generally dislike to use them. 

 The regular one-year-old trees, propa- 

 gated in the usual manner, are distinctly 

 preferred by nearly all planters. June 

 buds are chiefly used now in Tennessee, 

 North Carolina, South Carolina and 

 G-eorgia. In the Northern peach districts, 

 such as Ontario and Michigan, they are 

 virtually never used. 



Dwarf Peaclies 



A word should be said here with re- 

 gard to dwarf peach trees. Few dwarfs 

 are known in this country, and they 

 serve, in fact, no very important pur- 

 pose. They need never be expected to 

 assume any importance in commercial 

 peach-growing, but a certain number of 

 dwarf trees are desired by the owners 

 of the small gardens. Dwarf peach trees 

 are valuable under such circumstances 

 and are easily propagated. 



The general method of propagating 

 dwarf peach trees is to set the buds on 

 plum stocks. Almost any species or va- 

 riety of plum will answer, but some are 

 naturally much better than others. In 

 Europe the Myrobalan plum is chiefly 

 used, although St. Julian is sometimes 

 recommended. Experience in this coun- 

 try shows that native American plums 

 are usually much better adapted to this 

 purpose. The two best dwarf stocks are 

 the native American plum (Prunus 

 amencana) and the dwarf Western sand 

 cherry (Prunus "besseyi). Furthermore, 

 these are the stocks which it is easiest 

 to buy in a nursery. Peach buds are set 

 upon such stocks in precisely the same 

 manner as upon peach stocks. They 

 grow very rapidly for the first year or 

 two. Sometimes their growth even out- 

 strips that of similar varieties on regu- 

 lar peach roots, and the gardener begins 

 to wonder whether he has not been fooled 

 on his dwarfing process. The second or 

 third year, however, the dwarfing shows 

 itself unmistakably and the trees if prop- 

 erly handled will develop low, round- 

 topped bushes and will come into bearing 

 one or two years earlier than standard 

 trees of the same varieties. 



