
          381

"This weakening of the vital energies of the
plant has been mainly effected by growing
peaches on their own roots [?], and is to
be seen in all countries when such a
course has been followed.  This is notably
the case with the old Maori peach-groves,
where one generation of trees after another
has grown up from seed, and the same
may be said of the cultivated trees in the 
orchards & gardens of the settlers.  All
the peach trees in the colony have been
either raised from seed or have been worked
on peach-stocks.*

"The first step in the work of renewal will
be the selection of a suitable stock, & this
we find in the mussle-plum, the stock
invariably adopted by English nurserymen,
who have to carry on the cultivation of
the peach under far more unfavorable climatic
conditions than prevail with us. ["]

"It is advisable that the new stocks
should be worked with buds taken from
sound healthy trees.  Trees of one year's
growth from the buds could be purchased
in England at £5 per one hundred, so
that a few hundreds might easily be
imported with a quantity of stocks.  The 
dying trees might be cleared away at once,
and a new start made on a satisfactory
basis. ["]

<s>It</s> trees worked on the mussel would be

* Mr. A. T. Urquhart, Esq., "of the Karaka", through
whose hands this paper passed has the following footnote
written apparently in 1888:-

"The past three dry, warm, summers have had a very
beneficial effect on the foliage & fruit."
        