390 ANNUAL REPORT OF I'lIK Off. Doc. 



If an^'thing that 1 have said can hasten that moment and bring it 

 to anything like a .siicee8.s, yon will rise n]> and call me blessed in 

 the lean years which are sure to come and which without organization 

 will find you unprepared when they do come. 



PEACH GROWING IN MAKYLAND 



BY AARON NEWCOMER, Orchardint, Smithhurg, Md. 



I would like to ask how many peach growers there are in the 

 audience. Please hold up your hands. Quite a few. I want to 

 say this, but not in the way of flattery, if you can grow peaches as 

 good as the apples you have here on exhibition you have a fine 

 peach country. It looks to me as if you have good peach soil, one 

 that will give the fruit high color and excellent quality and that 

 is the only kind that it pays to grow. I have been growing peaches 

 for about eight years. Naturally some mistakes have been made 

 but I feel that we have learned some things that are of value to us. 

 They may not apply to your locality. In selecting a site for a peach 

 orchard I would first consider the elevation. I prefer an altitude 

 of from 725 to 1,000 feet above sea level. 



SOIL ADAPTATION 



Another important matter to consider is soil conditions. For 

 myself I would want one of three soil types; either sandstone with 

 a clay subsoil or a black slate with clay subsoil, or a deep chestnut 

 slate soil with a mixture of sandy loam and clay as a sub-soil. I 

 believe peaches will not do well on a rocky shale soil. I do not 

 mean that peaches will not grow on other kinds of soil only that 

 I have found the ones mentioned best for me in the order named. 

 I traveled in five states two years ago prospecting for peach soil 

 and finally came back to our South Mountain district. We have 

 the best soil and the best elevation. Peaches can be grown in the 

 Southern states but they do not have the flavor of ours. It is under- 

 stood by a great many people that peaches will do best on a poor 

 soil. I prefer the best I can get of one of the types mentioned. 

 It is possible to grow peaches on poor soil by fertilizing pretty 

 well and growing lots of cow peas, crimson clover or red clover 

 as a cover crop to turn down, but if the soil is naturally rich we 

 avoid that expense. 



PREPARING GROUND FOR PLANTING 



I like to plow the ground deep, 8 to 10 inches, being careful to 

 do a thorough job. It is then well harrowed with a spring tooth 

 harrow, until a good seed bed is secured. The field is scored one 

 way with a shovel plow making the furrows 17 feet apart. It is 



