PROCEEDINGS OP KINDRED SOCIETIES. 251 



tions to resist this liability. Of course tliere were no peaches. It has 

 since been true, twice at least, that locations with heavy soil and good 

 lake exposure have escaped with a partial but paying crop, while adjoining 

 orchards, with porous soils and level surfaces, or southern or eastern 

 slopes, lacking little in lake exposure, have practically entirely failed. 

 Hence we see that the surest locations may not be the best of peach land^ 

 for that should not need surface nor underground drainage. 



The "&es/" location, if it has not a western slope, certainly should not 

 have an eastern, though that is better than its foot lands, if ever so dry 

 and perfect in soil. The best locations, without regard to soil, are sure to 

 encounter, and not seldom, this fact. Another "con," is so much expos- 

 ure to cold winds or rains, or all combined, in the delicate blossoming 

 period, that more or less of the varieties will receive serious damage most 

 seasons. 



Another fact, both a "pro" and "con," is that many poor locations, some 

 seasons, will produce as well or better than the best. This is commercially a 

 damage to the business, affording no balance or profit to the producer, 

 and not always to the consumer. 



The topic of location nearly includes that of peach lands, but does not 

 include the important facts that clay lands will tax you two or three times 

 as much, or more, according to seasons, in the thorough, careful cultiva- 

 tion of orchards, as the easily tilled lands; and that in these clay orchards, 

 a satisfactory condition of tilth is seldom attained and maintained for a 

 sufficient length of time. 



Facts show that the study of varieties, with reference to location, is of 

 vital importance. While the history of most orchards would very likely 

 prove, beyond a doubt, that great advance may yet be made by the more 

 cautious and intelligent selection of varieties, they as likely also prove that 

 large experiments in novelties or new varieties are too costly and damag- 

 ing. Only one season in twenty-four have all the varieties of which I 

 have been observant done fairly well. 



The curculio is a very trying and expensive enemy to the business, an 

 enemy that often makes eternal vigilance the price of peaches; and here, 

 eternal vigilance is especially inconvenient and expensive. The sheets 

 and bumper offer the most feasible plan for their destruction. 



Diamonds are costly, but Victor Hugo says they can not rot. Peaches 

 can, and often do, seriously. I recall one season of which this was true 

 through the entire succession. There is no remedy for the wet or damp 

 and hot, still weather. But much of it can be prevented by thorough 

 work in removing the specked and rotten peaches. 



This prevention is not reckoned in ounces, but in oft-repeated, hard, 

 careful work; and after the leaves have fallen should be reviewed again 

 till none are left. 



Large, fine peaches have sometimes netted the grower enough per 

 bushel to pay for a barrel and a half of flour. Very often poor ones sell 

 for less than enough to pay for the packages and freight. These facts 

 have in them a wonderful emphasis in a valuable direction. 



The fad that good results follow the thorough practice of destroying 

 the tree wherever that evil disease, yellows, is found, is worth more to 

 commercial peach-growing in Michigan than all the theories, remedies, 

 talk, and thought that this much-agitated subject has engendered. 



While it is true that some have done remarkably well in the business, 

 it seems apparent that more have not. 



