THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 9, 1856. 167 
REARING THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 
If there is one point in the management of fruit-trees 
more than another on which the amateur requires in¬ 
formation it is, perhaps, the mode of rearing young 
fruit-trees. Abundance of directions may be found in 
bygone periodicals for the training of trees which have 
attained maturity; but I am not aware that any advice 
worthy of notice exists as to the rearing of young stock. 
It is my purpose, therefore, to give a few hints on. this 
subject. 
The Peach and Nectarine are mostly budded on the 
Muscle stock, a kind of wild Plum. On the Continent, 
however, they are stated to use the Almond stock, or 
seedling Peaches raised from kernels of hardy kinds. 
These, in the main, have been considered too tender in 
the root for our climate, and, therefore, have nearly 
fallen into disuse. Muscle stocks, as well as most other 
stocks, are, or used to be, raised by a class of nurserymen 
termed “stock growers,” who rear them by thousands 
for the trade in general, mostly, I believe, from layers 
or suckers. It is not woj;th the while, of course, of any 
amateur to rear them except as a hobby, for they may 
be purchased exceedingly cheap. 
We will now suppose the case of a Muscle stock from 
the nursery planted in the garden of some amateur, and 
trace it upwards until it becomes a trained tree and 
beginning to bear. The young stock will probably 
be about a foot or more in height, with a stem as thick 
as the little finger. Some persons advise planting 
against the wall and budding it there, but I say, “ No;” 
for I would rather recommend transplanting once or 
twice before final removal, in order to encourage fibrous 
roots; but it is requisite that the stock be planted in a 
soil which will encourage abundance of surface-roots. 
Such a soil is a compost consisting of chopped turfy 
loam and some half-decayed leaf-soil, and it may be 
liberally mixed with the ordinary garden-soil. The 
stock will require a little pruning, every shoot shortened 
to two or three eyes, and the leading shoot, if any, re¬ 
duced in a similar way, for the stock must not be en¬ 
couraged to become tall. A stem of eighteen inches 
after pruning will be sufficient; and, if any branches or 
spray exist low down the stem, they should be pruned 
closely, so that from six to eight inches of clean stem be 
left clear for the budder to operate on when the time 
arrives. 
In order to give beginners a correct idea of the stock, 
I will give a rough sketch of its probable character at 
this period. 
The cross marks indicate the points for the pruning- 
knife; the letters a o, shoots to be entirely removed. 
We will now pass on to another stage, and I may observe 
that, if the stock is strong enough and time is precious, 
it may be budded the very summer succeeding its being 
planted. Whether any given stock is strong enough to 
bud is not a matter entirely dependent on age, but on 
the healthy condition of the stock, which should be at 
least half an inch in diameter. However, as stocks 
generally stand a second year before working, we will 
suppose a case of the kind. The second pruning season 
being come, the pruning must be repeated according to 
the maxims laid down for the first, taking care that, if 
any spray has been produced nearer than nine inches 
from the soil, it be all totally removed. 
In the succeeding July the stock will be ready for 
budding; but, as such a proceeding is common to many 
of our fruits, and an illustrative sketch will be given, I 
pass on for the present. Let us now suppose it the end 
of July or beginning of August, and the stock budded; 
nothing remains but to see that the stock is watered, if 
necessary, in severe drought, and to loosen the bandage 
when the bud is safe. This will be the case by the 
middle of September, when the fate of the bud will be 
sealed. If the bandage be not loosened the stock by 
swelling is apt to become indented by pressure, and this 
is better avoided. There is no occasion, however, to 
remove the bandage; it may remain on awhile merely 
loosened. 
Nothing more is requisite until the following February, 
when the stock is “ headed back,” as nurserymen term 
it; that is to say, the head is cut off almost close to the 
bud. This they do with a cut sloping away from the 
! bud, the knife entering nearly opposite to the top of the 
[ shield of the bud, and slanting to an angle of about 
j 45°. I, however, should think that it would be better 
to leave about four or five inches in length of the stock 
for one year. This would serve to tie the growing 
bud to. By the month of June the young shoot or bud 
will have advanced considerably, and care must be 
taken through the summer to fasten it, or it may be 
broken by the winds. At the conclusion of this season 
the bud should have grown nearly a yard in height, 
and the following figure will well represent its 
character:— 
The young bud in rising generally produces side 
laterals for about two-thirds of its length; and the line 
b b signifies the point for the pruning-knife, which must 
be thus used during the rest season; and now I advise 
the amateur, for whom and small gardeners these re- 
