Pits and
buds are taken from enfeebled trees for the purpose of
propagation, and so tendencies to disease are perpetuated and
enhanced. Little wonder that, the fatal malady, the "yellows," has
blighted so many hopes! I honestly believe that millions of trees
have been sold in which this disease existed from the bud. If fine
peaches were bred and propagated with something of the same care
that is bestowed on blooded stock, the results would soon be
proportionate. Gardeners abroad often give more care to one tree
than hundreds receive here. Because the peach has grown so easily
in our climate, we have imposed on its good-nature beyond the
limits of endurance, and consequently it is not easy to get sound,
healthful trees that will bear year after year under the best of
treatment, as they did with our fathers with no care at all. I
should look to men who had made a reputation for sending out
sound, healthful stock grown under their own eyes from pits and
wood which they know to be free from disease. Do not try to save a
few pennies on the first cost of trees, for the probabilities are
that such economy will result in little more than the "yellows."
In large orchards, cultivated by horse-power, the stems of the
trees are usually from four to six feet high; but in the garden
this length of stem is not necessary, and the trees can be grown
as dwarf standards, with stems beginning to branch two feet from
the ground.
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