Peaches in Western New York. 369 



Yet there is much to be said, fairly, for the high-topped trees. 

 They are more easy to till and it is quite as easy to pick their 

 fruit ; and there is less tendency to make long and sprawling 

 branches as a result of careless pruning. On rich lands, it is per- 

 haps the better method. And here is the chief reason for head- 

 ing back in this climate, — the necessity of checking the growth 

 and keeping the tree within bounds when it is growing in a strong 

 soil. Whether one shall head in his trees or not, therefore, must 

 depend entirely on circumstances. In sandy peach lands it is gen- 

 erally unnecessary, but it may be a good practice when trees make 

 an over-exuberant growth. This heading in is usually done in 

 the winter, from a third to half the annual growth being removed. 

 It is sometimes done also in the summer, but it is very doubtful 

 if this is a wise practice. Fig. 6 shows an orchard a dozen years 

 old which has been headed in both winter and summer for a num- 

 ber of years. The summer trimming is usually made in June, by 

 clipping off an inch or two of the ends of the tender shoots by 

 means of a sickle or sword. 



Heading in the branches always makes a thick-topped tree. 

 The Michigan growers usually give much attention to cutting out 

 the small unprofitable wood from the center of the tree. This 

 labor may be greatly increased if heading in is practiced. Many 

 orchards of this state have suffered much during the last two 

 years from twig-blight in these central shoots. This difficulty is 

 discussed farther on (page 379, Fig. 8). 



Thinning the fruit. — There is almost universal neglect in thin- 

 ning the fruit in this state. Every peach grower knows that 

 good fruit cannot be grown upon overloaded trees, and yet he re- 

 fuses to thin and forthwith blames the maiket ! It should be a 

 rule that no two peaches should stand closer together than five 

 inches of one another. The spray upon the title-page shows, ap- 

 proximately, the distance at which peaches should stand apart. 

 No work of the orchard pays better than this thinning of the 

 fruit, either in the price which the remaining produce brings in 

 the market or in the vital energy which is saved to the tree. Peach 

 trees which are regularly thinned should bear every year, barring 

 injuries from winter or spring frosts. Growers seem to forget that 

 this fruit must all be picked sooner or later, and that the work is 



