228 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



one will plant some crop in a young peach orchard, and if the proper crops 

 are chosen there can be no harm in it, provided the soil is well fed for the 

 extra crop. 



But no crop should be planted that has to be cultivated after midsummer ; 

 therefore, corn is the best crop, and jiotatoes the worst, as digging the 

 potatoes prolongs the growing season too late for the wood to ripen properly. 

 This applies only to yonng trees till they begin to bear ; after the trees be- 

 gin to bear heavily they must be cultivated all summer, to keep up a good 

 growth till fall, so the leaves will not fall prematurely; if this happens, the 

 warm weather late in the fall will advance the buds so much that they will 

 be likely to get killed with the cold of winter, especially all the Crawford 

 type of peaches. I don't know of a better way to treat an old orchard than 

 to cultivate well till about September 1, and then sow two bushels of rye per 

 acre, and turn it under when in bloom the next spring The growing rye 

 will keep the soil from washing away in the winter and early spring, and a 

 heavy crop turned under puts the ground in the best possible condition for a 

 good, healthy growth of wood and fruit. 



INSECT ENEMIES TO TREES. 



The insect enemies of peach trees are the two species of borers. Without 

 using any scientific names, I will call them root and trunk borers. The first 

 named is the most to be dreaded, and the injury done by either can not be 

 cured. 



Therefore the peach grower must depend on prevention for permanent 

 results. If the borers have got a start, they must be cut out, every one of 

 them, and destroyed, and the wounds induced to heal as soon as possible ; 

 but the injury they can do in a short time will be more or less permanent ; 

 but it is much easier and cheaper to prevent than to cure. 



The following treatment, if thoroughly done, will be successful: Take- 

 two gallons of strong (country) lye soap and add one pint of crude carbolic 

 acid; set the mixture in the sun for four or five days, or till the soap and 

 acid are thoroughly mixed; then add six gallons of warm rainwater, and 

 keep the mixture thoroughly stirred, and apply to every part of the trunk, 

 crotches of limbs, and crown or upper roots (first remove the earth from base 

 of tree) with a brush or mop of old cloth; then apply one-half peck of 

 leached ashes to the crown of tree. This treatment annually has been a sure 

 -remedy with me, and answers for all the borer family. It should be applied 

 about May, in this latitude. 



PRUNING. 



The pruning of peach orchards has run so much to theory in the mi^ids of 

 horticultural writers in the last few years that common sense has had to 

 give way, and will only come to the front again when the folly of these paper 

 orchardists perishes with the lives of the trees they have mutilated. 



The head of a peach tree should be started about four and one-half feet 



