Some of the finest fruit I have ever seen was from seedlings, the
trees having been grown from pits of unusually good peaches. While
the autumn planting of pits lightly in the soil and permitting them
to develop into bearing trees is a pleasing and often profitable
amusement, there is no great probability that the result will be
desirable. We hear of the occasional prizes won in this way, but
not of the many failures.
By easy transition we pass to the kindred fruit the plum, which
does not generally receive the attention it deserves. If one has a
soil suited to it--a heavy clay or loam--it can usually be grown
very easily. The fruit is so grateful to the taste and useful to
the housekeeper that it should be given a fair trial, either in
the garden borders or wherever a tree can be planted so as to
secure plenty of light and air. The young trees may be one or two
years old from the bud; I should prefer the former, if vigorous.
Never be induced to purchase old trees by promises of speedy
fruit. It is quite possible you may never get any fruit at all
from them worth mentioning. I should allow a space of from ten to
fifteen feet between the trees when they are planted together, and
I should cut them back so that they would begin to branch at two
feet from the ground. Long, naked stems are subject to the gum-
disease.
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