Peach Growing in Willamette Valley. 153 



of July tili the middle of October and you will find me shipping peaches 

 to market. To accomplish this I will name the varieties in their Order 

 of ripening, namely: Early Alexander, Amsden June, Waterloo, Tri- 

 umph, Early Columbia, Hale's Early, Mamie Rose, Lovell, Champion, 

 Early Crawford, Early Charlotte, Tuscan Cling, Golden Cling, Muir, 

 Late Crawford, Elberta, Fitzgerald and Salway. Anyone planting these 

 17 varieties can have this luscious fruit continuously for at least 

 three and a half months. As for the best canning and all-around 

 peach I think the Elberta heads the list as the best freestone peach, 

 and to prove this to you, I will state that at the National Horticultural 

 meeting, held in St. Louis in 1905, according to statistics given there, 

 three-fourths of all the peach trees planted in the United States were 

 Elbertas, some of the eastern states planting them almost exclusively. 

 It is one of the most vigorous growers, but the most susceptible to the 

 curl leaf in this climate of any peach grown. 



As for the cling peaches, I think the Tuscan is the best, being a 

 very large peach with dark red cheeks and one of the hardiest peach 

 trees grown and very little subject to that dread disease, curl leaf. 



The Early Charlotte is a very fine freestone peach. The tree is 

 very hardy and inclined to curl leaf but very little. It is a seedling 

 from the Early Crawford and originated in Salem many years ago. 



The Salway is as late a peach as I think advisable to plant in the 

 Willamette Valley. It ripens from the first to the 20th of October. The 

 Fitzgerald is a little later than the Salway and a very fine large peach. 



As to the life of a peach orchard in the Willamette Valley that has 

 been pruned and sprayed under scientific principles, I should think 

 from 35 to 50 years would be no exaggeration. I have a lot of 21-year- 

 old trees that bear every year and seem to be as healthy and vigorous 

 as when they were 10 years old. I have some trees that are over 30 

 years old that are loaded with peaches every year. My son at Wheat- 

 land has a peach orchard in which some of the trees are 37 years old 

 and they are loaded with fruit every year. This proves to me that a 

 peach tree properly treated in the Willamette Valley will live at least 

 a generation, but if not taken care of and treated with up-to-date 

 methods they will succumb to the diseases they are subject to and die 

 in a very short time. To grow a successful peach orchard in the Wil- 

 lamette Valley there are four fundamental rules to observe; the first 

 and most important one is a thorough spraying at the right time and 

 not too late; the next is a severe cutting back and pruning the first 

 three years after planting so as to make the tree stocky and its roots 

 strong and vigorous; the next is a thorough cultivation through the 

 Summer, keeping the moisture as near the surface as possible until the 

 middle of September, and last, but not least, a thorough cutting back 

 the ends of the branches about three inches from the first to the 20th 

 of August, thereby insuring a profusion of fruit buds. Anyone having 

 a good location, planting a peach orchard in the Willamette Valley, 

 and observing these rules strictly will surely be successful. But if you 

 do not observe them you will surely fail and had better keep the money 

 in your pocket that you have to pay for trees. 



The net income per acre from a peach orchard is a hard thing to 

 figure on in advance. It depends a great deal on the age of the trees, 

 how they have been cared for, cost of transportation and the scarcity 

 in the markets. I think a fair average for five-year-old trees would be 

 from eight to fifteen 20-pound boxes of peaches to the tree. It cost me 

 a fraction over 14 cents per box to pack, wrap and box my crop the past 

 season. I sold them at 65 cents f. o. b., leaving a net income of about 

 50 cents per box. Now I am not a stickler after locations or favored 

 spots as some are, for the winds and storms have almost a mile's sweep 



