31. It is by budding that the Peach tree is propagated. The proper stocks for it are the Almond, the Saint Julien and Damask Plums, and the Peach itself. Lately the Myrobalan Plum has been budded on, and is said to produce excellent stocks for this purpose, but I have not tried it.

32. The finest trees are produced on the Almond stock, especially on the hard-shelled variety. It succeeds well everywhere except on very wet soils, or those subject to be flooded, because the roots of the Almond almost invariably perish when under water. It has the advantage of late growth; consequently, it is indispensable for the late varieties of Peaches.

33. The Plum is better fitted than the Almond for moist soils. Except in this case, I prefer the Almond stock because it imparts a greater vigor to the tree. This is the opinion of the growers also. Nevertheless the following example does not appear to corroborate this: For ten years I have cultivated a wall covered with a hundred Peach trees, of which fifty were on Almond and fifty on Plum stocks, planted alternately. The soil was very unsuitable for the culture of the Peach, being gravelly, stony, clayey, etc. All the trees have, notwithstanding, grown well; Almond and Plum stocks have made an equal growth, so much so that, even after most scrupulous examination, I have found it impossible to say on which stock the tree succeeded best The produce from both has also been in every respect equal. I still, however, prefer the Almond stock, although I have given this case as an exception in favor of the Plum.

33. The Peach tree itself is the least employed as a stock on which to bud its different varieties. They grow on it vigorously, but do not fruit so readily. They are also liable to gumming. I have budded the Peach on its own stock, and have been disappointed with the crop of fruit I have remarked that by budding a second time, the growth was moderated, and the crop was abundant. But this proceeding delays production; it must therefore be abandoned for the use of the Almond and Plum stocks. Beside, thus worked, the Peach is but short-lived.

• Continued from December number.

35. If we desire to plant our own Almond stocks, we must choose hard-shelled Almonds, and put them in layers. In the first fortnight of January, we must put in a box or basket, alternately, a bed of sand of the thickness of the hand, and a layer of Almonds until the box be full, or till all the Almonds are used, and place the box or basket in a cellar, or in the earth, so as to be moist and protected from the frost. As soon as there is no fear of frost, that is to say about the end of April, the Almonds are planted in a soil, manured and trenched to the depth of sixteen inches at least. Holes are then made from six to seven inches deep, and about a foot apart, in each of which an Almond is placed, after breaking off about one-third of its tap-root in order to make the roots strike out more horizontally, and to prevent their going down too deep. This process has the advantage of fitting the Almond for those soils which have but a thin layer of vegetable earth. The Almond trees will be ready for budding at the end of August or beginning of September following.

36. If we bud on the Plum, suckers must be procured; these generally spring from the bottoms of large Plum trees. The preference is to be given to the Black Damask, which the cultivators near Paris generally get from Fontenay-aux-Roses. These are planted, on a properly prepared soil, from November till March; but November is preferable; they are cut down nearly to the level of the ground, when planted; and they are budded when they have made fresh shoots fit for being worked at the proper season.

37. The ground on which this nursery of Almond or Plum stocks is, ought to be kept perfectly clean. It is necessary to give the ground several stirrings, so that it may be loose and free from weeds.

38. The Plum stock is budded from the middle of July to the middle of August; and the Almond and Peach stocks from the middle of August to the middle of September. The mode employed is almost exclusively that of shield-budding. Care must be taken that the buds are from very healthy trees and from shoots well ripened, and of a slightly abated growth. The stocks which are to be budded must, on the contrary, have their sap in full flow, so that, should the bud not take, the operation can be repeated. On this account the Almond is the most advantageous by reason of its late growth. As soon as the shoots for furnishing buds are cut, the leaves are taken off, allowing a portion of the stalk about one-third of an inch long to remain. The spontaneous fall of this remaining portion of the stalk shows that the bud has taken. Although it is always better to employ the buds as soon as possible after the shoots have been cut off, they may be very well preserved by keeping the bases of the shoots in water.

It is even good to adopt the same treatment for buds that have come from a distance.

39. The bud commonly takes in six or twelve days; this is known, as before said, by the fall of the stalk. If, on the contrary, the stalk remains on, and the bud.

40. Stocks can be budded, if planted in the place where the tree is to be formed, quite as well as those in the nursery. The last are always budded with a single eye, the shoot from which is pruned in the following spring. When budded in their position against a wall, a bud can be placed on each side of the stock; this gives two eyes regularly placed for the formation of the two main branches. A year is gained by this, for in the following spring, instead of pruning the shoot from the bud to allow of the growth of the two lower eyes, destined to form the two main branches, these already exist, and can receive their first pruning. But for that to take place, both buds must have taken well, and both must be equally strong: Yet it is true that if one of them die, we find ourselves, by straightening and pruning, in the same position as if we had inserted one bud only.

41. Nurserymen often commit the error of propagating, for too long a time, a variety that they know to be good by taking shoots for the supply of buds from the plants of that sort that were worked the year before. It is better to renew these buds by taking shoots from full-grown trees. This is the reason that I bud myself the stocks which I have chosen in the nurseries; by this I am also more sure of the varieties ; I, however, take the precaution of not nailing to the wall some shoots on the upper part of the tree which is to be propagated from, so that the sap may still be in flow at the time of budding. The necessity of having shoots of good growth for this purpose is the reason of nurserymen taking them from the open ground rather than from the walls.

42. By means of budding, several varieties of Peaches can be grown on the same tree. This gives no advantage, except in a case where it is desirable to have, in a short time, a greater variety of fruit than we should otherwise possess. Some buds are worked on the strongest shoots of the middle of the tree. Often these buds make shoots of five feet and more; the eyes burst and form fruit-branches; and sometimes the following year ten or twelve Peaches are gathered from the first shoot of the bud.

43. By the same means it is possible to change the nature of the fruit of a Peach tree. A person had planted double-flowering Peaches; when he saw them his first impulse was to order them to be destroyed. I persuaded him to do nothing of the sort, hoping to make his trees productive in a short time. In the beginning of August, I put ten or twelve buds on each tree, on the young wood as well as on the main branches. The success was complete, and in two years afterward he gathered splendid fruit.