"Why, yes, I have seen as many as three or four kinds of apples on one tree."
"And peaches, and apples, and plums, and pears, all on one tree, too?" said Prue. "Why that would be a regular fairy tree!"
"We could hardly have that," laughed the Chief Gardener, "though I have heard of peaches, and nectarines, and plums being all on one tree, though I have never seen it. I don't think such things do very well."
They went over to look at Davy's little peach-tree, which was fresh and green and tender, and seemed to be growing nicely.
"It should have fruit on it in three years," said the Chief Gardener.
Davy and Prue did not look very happy at this. It seemed such a long time to wait.
"It will pass before you know it," the Chief Gardener smiled.
"I shall be as old as Nellie Taber," said little Prue, who had been counting on her fingers, "but Nellie will be older, too," she added with a sigh. "So I'm afraid I can't catch up with her."
The Chief Gardener led them over to another part of the garden, where there was a bunch of green leaves, like the leaves of a violet, but when they got down to look, they found that the flowers, instead of being all blue, were speckled and spotted with white.
"Oh, Papa, where did you get those funny violets?" asked Prue. "What makes them all speckly?"