392 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



tops till the following spring. Spring planted trees are pruned as 

 soon as set. If a low-headed tree is desired, cut back the main 

 stem to ten or twelve inches. If a high-headed tree is preferred 

 cut to 2S to rU) inches. As the tree grows during the summer cut 

 oil" all but o or 4 of the main branches which should be used for the 

 future frame work of the tree. These main limbs should be trained 

 to grow as nearly at an angle of 45° as possible, then the trees will 

 be easily sprayed and the fruit can be nearly all picked from the 

 ground without the use of a stepladder. All centres should be kept 

 cut out to admit sunlight. 



CULTIVATION 



The first and second years after jjlanting the orchard, I plow 

 it with a barshear plow following with a spring tooth hariow and 

 plant to corn, potatoes or cantaloupes, to make the orchard self- 

 supporting till it comes into bearing, which is usually the third 

 year after planning. The following years, when the orchard is in 

 bearing, we give only shallow cultivation with a spring tooth or disc 

 harrow\ This cultivation commences as early in spring as possible 

 so as not to endanger bloom and tender fruit, in case of cold 

 weather. We cannot begin much before March 20th without dan- 

 ger. On one occasion I had part of an orchard harrowed when 

 the weather was cold and had a lot of damage on the cultivated part 

 and none on the other portion. The cultivation seemed to lower the 

 temperature to the danger point. We continue the cultivation every 

 four or five days until the 15th of July. In this way a fine crop of 

 peaches can be grown and a lot of strong hardy fruit buds de^^eloped 

 for the next year's crop. 



MAINTAINING FERTILITY 



I believe in fertilizing the trees well. A fertilizer whicli con- 

 tains 2 per cent, of Nitrogen, 8 per cent, of Phosphoric Acid and 10 

 per cent, of Potash seems to be a good balanced fertilizer. I use 

 from 500 to 1,000 pounds of this mixture i)er acre annually, com- 

 mencing the second year after the orchard is planted. As a cover 

 crop to assist in maintaining fertility I use crimson clover, win- 

 ter vetch and cow peas. These add much in the way of humus or 



vegetable matter. 



SPRAYING 



As a remedy for San Jose scale I would use home-made Con- 

 centrated Linie-sulphur solution — 15 pounds Sulphur, 20 pounds 

 Lime or some good brand of Concentrated Lime-sulphur made by 

 a reliable firm. I tried Scalecide and Target Brand Oil on a large 

 scale and it nearly put us out of business. Quite a lot of trees 

 were killed and a lot more were injured so ihat it will take some 

 time for them to recover. You cannot grow peaches without spray- 

 ing them well. As a summer spray for fungus diseases we have 

 been very successful with Bordeaux mixture — 2 pounds Blue Stone, 

 6 pounds Lime to 50 gallons of water. We are thinking of trying 

 some home-made Concentrated Lime-sulphur the coming summer. 



