The peaches of New York

by U. P. Hedrick

Peach-on-peach is now the rule in eastern America but in Europe, and to a lesser extent on the Pacific slope, several other species are used. Thus, the hard-shelled Sweet Almond has long been used in Europe and is found to make a hardy, strong stock in dry soils in California. The Damson and St. Julian plums have been used with varying satisfaction in moist and heavy soils in America; and in Europe, these, with the Muscle and Pear plums, are common stocks for the peach. Peaches are dwarfed somewhat by all plum-stocks. The Myrobalan plum, very commonly used for nearly all cultivated plums, was at one time recommended for the peach but turned out to be very unsatisfactory and is now practically never used. The nectarine, Peento and Honey peaches are budded upon seedling peaches.

A stock greatly desired in peach-growing is one that will dwarf the tree sufficiently so that winter-protection for buds and wood is practicable. The late E. S. Goff of Wisconsin tried for some years to find such a stock. He reports[257] working several hundred buds on the dwarf Flowering-Almond without a single union. Better success attended efforts with the peach on the dwarf Sand Cherry, Prunus besseyii, of the Rocky Mountains. Of the results, as he dismisses the flowering-almond, he says:

"I next tried a form of the Sand Cherry, grown from pits procured in western Iowa. This shrub is quite dwarf, attaining a height of only two or three feet. With this stock I have been more successful. I inserted a few buds in it in 1893, and while I had less expectation of success than with the Flowering Almond, I succeeded much better. The Peach grew vigorously on this stock, and by the second year had attained the height of about five feet. The past season, although the best growing season we have had for some years, the Peach-trees on this stock have scarcely increased in height. They have branched rather thickly, and at present are well filled with flower-buds, from which I infer that they will probably not grow larger than they now are. At this height the trees are readily protected by digging away sufficient earth from the roots, so that the trunk may be bent down readily, when the whole is covered with earth. The trees blossomed the past spring and set some fruit, though the fruit failed to mature."

In the same report, Professor Goff mentions trying Prunus subcordata and a dwarf form of Prunus maritima as stocks for the peach but with what success does not appear. Dwarf stocks for peaches offer an invitation to experiment which it is hoped some one will accept. Such an experiment requires little more than land, time and material, for it is one of those cases in which nothing succeeds like success and nothing fails like failure so that he who runs would be able to read.

Tied up with stocks is another problem. Much is being said about the necessity of selecting buds from trees having certain characters best developed—as vigor or productiveness; large, handsome or well-flavored fruits; or immunity to some disease. As yet there is no body of facts to substantiate the claims of those who maintain that fruits can be improved by bud-selection nor does present knowledge suggest that such a procedure is a means of fruit-improvement. Quite to the contrary the histories of varieties of peaches, as they may be read in this text, suggest that, "Like begets like," while in the light of science a plant propagated by buds is essentially complete in its heredity. Yet the whole question is still an open one and fruit-growers are waiting to know whether putting buds through the sieve of selection is worth while. The advocates of improving orchards by bud-selection say little, however, about selecting stocks. There is nothing more certain than that the stock greatly influences the character of the tree. The modifications so brought about probably appear and disappear with the individual—at least we should be the last in the world to hold that peaches could be permanently modified by the stocks. The point is, if buds are selected for the tops, the stocks should be selected also. To do otherwise is to imitate the ostrich—head in the sand, body exposed.

The peach is easy to propagate. Let it be said before going into the matter, however, that practically all of the trees in the peach-orchards in New York were grown in nurseries and that it is probably best to let the propagation of trees continue a business for the specialist. Still, it is well that the grower know in a general way the operations in the propagation of the peach-tree. We wish, too, to put on record the nursery methods used in propagating this fruit at this period in the history of the peach.

In planting peach-pits, art imitates and quickens nature. In nature the seeds are self-sown as they ripen, the succulent coat keeping the hard envelope containing the kernel from becoming stony so that the young plant bursts forth at the proper season. But in cleaning and drying seeds for sale and transportation, they become hard and dry and must be subjected to somewhat special treatment before planting. In mild climates the pits are soaked or kept moist in sand, earth or other medium until softened and are then planted in the fall in rows where the trees are to be grown. In cold climates the stones are subjected to freezing, thereby cracking them, after which the kernels are sown in the spring. To freeze, the seeds are placed in strata with moist sand, saw-dust, straw or other material supplying an abundance of moisture, and exposed to the freezing weather of winter which usually frees the kernel from its envelope. The kernels are then sifted from the stones and sand and sowed in rows four feet apart. Pits which the frost does not open must be cracked by hand, though this tedious operation is usually omitted by large nurseries.

The seeds are planted in a rich, well-drained soil, preferably a light loam with good bottom. By late mid-summer in New York the stocks are ready to bud, though often the operation extends into September. The peach is universally budded in America, grafting being most difficult, though trees can be grown from root-cuttings. The method of budding is the common T, or shield-bud. The buds "take" in a week or two, but remain dormant until the next spring when the top of the stock above the bud is removed to give the cion right of way. At one year from the bud, two years from the seed, in northern climates, the trees are ready to be transplanted in the orchard. In the South and on the Pacific Slope, budding may be done in June, thereby saving a season. These "June buds," however, excepting under the most favorable conditions, in the East at least, are weaklings not nearly so desirable as "summer buds." Occasionally, more particularly in California, summer-budded stocks are planted in the fall or the next spring as "dormant buds." In New York, trees older than one year from the bud are seldom worth planting though occasionally it is necessary to save stocks until their second season before budding.

In budding, the bud-sticks are cut as needed, after which the leaves are trimmed leaving about a quarter of an inch of the stem as a handle to the bud. After trimming, the sticks are wrapped in damp burlap and are taken to the field—once dried, they are worthless. The buds at the end of the bud-stick are discarded, the plump, hard buds near the middle of the stick being the most vigorous. At the point where the bud is to be inserted a T-shaped incision is made, the transverse cut being secured by a rocking motion of the knife and the vertical one by lightly drawing the knife upward from a point about an inch below the first cut. Before removing the knife a slight twist of the blade loosens the edges better to receive the bud.

The bud is cut from below upward with a drawing motion of the knife. Nearly the entire thickness of the bark is cut at the point of the bud so that it will not crumple when inserted into the stock. Almost no wood is taken with the bud but on the other hand the bud must not be so thin that the soft growing tissue between the bark and wood is injured. The bud is taken between the thumb and forefinger and lifted free from the wood. With the leaf-stem as a handle the bud is inserted into the T-shaped incision and pushed down until its "heel" is flush with the transverse cut. Waxing is not necessary but the bud must be securely tied.