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.