220 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE OfE. Doc. 



CULTURE. 



Clean culture is an absolute necessity for a profitable peach 

 orchard. Many think it impossible to keep up clean culture where 

 trees are standing with limbs coming together and resting on the 

 ground, but it is all in the knowing how. It is presumed the ground 

 has been thoroughly prepared by plowing to the depth of ten or 

 twelve inches and put in the best condition before the trees are 

 planted. The distance apart should not be less than twenty feet. 

 My planting this spring has been fifteen feet by twenty-five feet; 

 better give more space than less. The first season after planting 

 apply not less than 1,000 pounds of high grade fertilizer per acre, 

 and plant to early potatoes between the tree rows, and cultivate at 

 least twice a week as long as the potatoes permit. Remove the 

 crop as soon as possible, work the ground well with a spring tooth 

 harrow and drill in two bushels of cowpeas (Whip-poor\yll). Do 

 not remove the crop, but leave them remain on the ground over 

 winter as a mulch. Turn under early in the spring, again apply 

 1,000 pounds fertilizer, analyzing, nitrogen, 4 per cent.; potash 

 actual, 12 per cent.; phosphoric acid, 6 to 8 per cent.; and again 

 plant early potatoes. Cultivate thoroughly. As soon as the crop 

 is removed sow two bushels of cowpeas and leave crop lie on the 

 ground over winter. The third summer the trees are now large 

 enough to require all the ground for their own use, as we expect a 

 crop of fruit this season, so we apply only phosphoric acid and 

 potash and cultivate from two to four times a week from early 

 spring until the beginning of July. This is done first with a spring 

 tooth harrow, working it both ways, after which the cultivation 

 is kept up with a spike harrow. Do not continue cultivation later 

 than the middle of July or the trees will continue their growth too 

 late in the fall and not be sufficiently ripened in wood and buds 

 to withstand the severe cold of our winters. By tbis constant 

 culture the ground will be kept loose, always covered with a dust 

 mulch, and the moisture retained even in the driest seasons. Many 

 people think they do not have the time to cultivate so often, if 

 so, then do not go into peach culture. This clean culture is kept 

 up year after year, and fertilizer applied as needed. The question 

 here arises, How shall we cultivate with the limbs meeting and 

 ends on the ground? 



Early in the spring, before the ground settles or becomes hard, 

 take the spring harrow, divide the two sections, and place a broad 

 steel frame between; this spreads the harrow, the team can walk 

 in the middle, and the harrow with the levers bent creeps under the 

 limbs close to the trees. Go once around each row both ways, 

 then remove the frame, join the two sections and break up the 

 middles, after which the section spike harrow is used. With this 

 culture is kept up all summer until in July. Never leave a crust form; 

 the drier the weather the more you cultivate, and the more moisture 

 you keep in the ground, your trees and fruit will never be checked 

 by drought and your reward will be manifold. 



THINNING. 



The man who attempts to raise choice peaches without thinning 

 certainly does not understand his business. There are two methods 

 adopted by orchardists, one by pruning, the other by hand-picking. 



