IXDIA^A HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 331 



vation as tlie peach. This very essential of constant and thorough culti- 

 vatiou is one of the strongest reasons for avoiding rich lands, in which 

 case yon Avill grow too much wood, and prolong the growing season, so as 

 to endanger the loss of following crop, or the life of the tree itself on 

 account of wood not being thoroughly ripened to stand severe winters. 

 We have always found that the peach tree will stand severe pruning 

 much better than almost any other fruit tree, hence we have used linife, 

 saw and axe in various stages of growth in order to keep open head of 

 tree to admit free circulation of air, heat and light of sun, all of which 

 are essential to give color and flavor to the fruit. In addition to this, 

 thorough pruning helps in the matter of thinning, which we find very nec- 

 essary to produce good sized fruit whenever there is a full set of buds, 

 in Avhich case at least half or three-fourths must be pulled off. This is 

 not always so, as more than half of om* crops have been sufficiently thinned 

 by frost. 



As to the enemies of the peach, I believe it has fewer than almost any 

 other fiTiit. The peach borer is most thoroughly combatted by filling a 

 mound of earth about half a foot high around the body of the tree, and 

 then tamping with the foot to prevent the fly from laying her eggs down 

 near the tender roots, thus lessening the chance for the worm when 

 small to enter the hard havK and making it much easier to capture. To 

 do this we dig the mound away in May and destroy the worm with a 

 sharp-pointed knife, and replace the mound around the tree after a few 

 days. The curculio, causing wormy fruit and curl leaf, can both be 

 destroyed by spraying, a remedy we have never applied, and we never 

 have thought our losses from these causes was very great. There is no 

 doubt but what great benefits may be derived from an intelligent system 

 of spraying where curl leaf is prevalent, as government experiments in 

 California have shown. 



The question of variety comes in as a very essential thing, but should 

 be determined by experience as to which varieties succeed best in each 

 individual locality. My father, Argiis Dean, commenced his peach busi- 

 ness with about sixty varieties, but after fifteen years' experience he had 

 reduced the list to twelve or fifteen, as having quality, hardiness and a 

 succession in time of ripening, so as to fill the entire season from July 1st 

 to October. We afterward added to these and discarded others, as new 

 and better kinds came up. So I would think it a most difficult thing to tell 

 which certain varieties would do best. There seems to be an increasing 

 tendency to sacrifice hardiness for fine quality, which may be well enough 

 for a small orchard, but for an orchard for profit serious mistakes may be 

 made. I once knew a neighbor who planted about 20,000 trees, and among 

 them were about 2,000 of one variety that did well on Chesapeake bay, 

 his former home. But during the entire life of the trees he never gath- 

 ered twenty bushels of peaches. Although the quality was superb, it 

 demonstrated that a peach of any one variety will not prove profitable in 



