610 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



il will save the moisture in the ground, needed for growth later in 

 the season. The strawberry is objectionable, because there can be 

 no cultivation oarl.v in the season. However, we overcame that by 

 throwing a mulch around the tree until the fruit is harvested, and 

 then the berries are plowed. 



Now, about i)runing; this is a very unsatisfactory subject to talk 

 about unless the si)eaker has a tree and a pruning knife. We may 

 say, however, that the peach requires much more pruning than 

 any other fruit. It is about midway between the apple and the 

 grape in that respect. We cut out all the useless branches the first 

 year, and cut the tree back about 18 inches or 20 inches. Then we af- 

 terward go over it each year carefully, although we do not cut so 

 much as the first year. We think we get a better groAvth in this 

 way. Then in the spring we go over it carefully and prune so that 

 there will be no two branches directly opposite. If we think we 

 have been a little too easy in the beginning, we cut more sharply. 

 The peach, you know puts out new branches every year, and bears 

 only on the new" wood. 



My soil, on which I am growing peaches, is a sandy loam, a good 

 deal darker now than when I first got it, because of the humus 

 I put in it. It is a very friable, mellow soil, but I find that I cannot 

 cut back as severely as they can on heavier soil. In my case, I 

 have been obliged to give the trees a little more room than is usually 

 allowed. I would rather have a few less trees and give them the 

 room to spread out, so as to get the sunshine and air and get the 

 proper color, than to have double the number of an inferior quality 

 and flavor. My last orchard was planted 22 x 25, of Elberta and 

 Kalamazoo. This may be a little more than necessary, but I think 

 the tendency is to give a little more room. It was my privilege to 

 spend three or four weeks with the fruit growers of Michigan. The 

 people up there grew peaches on sandy soil, and got splendid results. 

 They gave clean cultivation, but they failed to give the cover crop, 

 and the result was that in a few years the soil was robbed of its 

 humus, and the peaches began to fail with the Yellows and the 

 Little Peach, and in a very i^hort time, the peach industry of Michi- 

 gan sank to a very low el)b, and to-day there are many less peach 

 trees grown in Michigan than Avere fifteen or twenty years ago. 

 They are beginning to realize the necessity of keeping humus in 

 the orchard if they want to make a success of raising peaches. It 

 is with the fruit just as it is with the animal ; in cold, hard weather, 

 the weak, sickly animal will succumb; and so it is with trees. Our 

 method is to start cultivation early in the season, and cultivate 

 .largely the early part of the season. Our time of starting cultiva- 

 tion will depeoid largely upon the weather, and the character of 

 fruit the tree is bearing. If it is a light, and a rainy season, we 

 often stop the first of July but if it is dry, and the crop is a heavy 

 one, we often cultivate on right up to the first of September. 



Now, then, as to the cover crop ; in our orchard work we often 

 use oats or barley, preferring barley. We have to use something 

 that will make as great a growth as possible before the winter sets 

 in, and plow it as early in the spring as possible, so that it will not 

 take up any of the moisture that the tree needs. In the case of a 

 young orchard, where we can sow early, we use clover or vetch. We 



