FRUITS. VARIETIES AND CULTURE. 



389 



lieved that the stone of a seedling is more apt to repro- 

 duce its kind, than if taken from a budded tree. Seed- 

 lings often escape frosts that are fatal to the finer varie- 

 ties, but the highest flavored varieties of seedlings are 

 often quite as susceptible of injury as those budded or 

 grafted; those varieties bearing large flowers are much 

 less liable to be injured by frost than those having small 

 ones. 



Plum stocks are recommended by foreign writers ; but 

 they are of little use in this climate, for the graft soon out- 

 grows the stock, and breaks off. Peach stocks are raised 

 by planting the stones two or three inches deep, in the au- 

 tumn or winter. If the stones are cracked, they are more 

 sure to grow. Abundance of stocks can often be pro- 

 cured, by taking the volunteers that spring up under the 

 trees in early spring, when about an inch high, and trans- 

 planting in rows three feet apart, and one foot in the row. 

 Plant them in good soil where they will grow rapidly ; if 

 the season is good they will be of sufficient size to bud in 

 August. Yfhen the inserted buds start in the following 

 spring, the stocks may be cut down to within two inches 

 of the bud, and then keep rubbing off the shoots or rob- 

 bers for at least two months ; otherwise the inserted buds 

 will be overpowered by them, and die, or make but feeble 

 growth. 



The buds had best be inserted in the north side .of the 

 stock to screen them from the sun. Peach trees raised, or 

 varieties originating in the Northern States are not at all 

 unfitted for our climate, yet there is some risk of import- 

 ing trees from the North on account of diseases peculiar 

 to that section from which Southern raised trees are ex- 

 empt. 



Some varieties of European fruits are found to succeed 

 better here than where they originated, but as a general 

 rule, all fruits succeed best in their native locality. 



Peach trees in transplanting are set twenty feet apart 



