462 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



ally 18x20 ft. is about right with us. I have always stood for a 

 strong big tree. I have had that disputed many times, but we 

 certainly have had our best results with a large strong tree. We al- 

 ways plant trees in fall or early winter and we believe very thor- 

 oughly in fall or winter setting. We want the open, spreading top 

 tree. 



MR. PETERS: How do you prune those trees? 



MR. BARTON: When we set a tree we will cut it down to a 

 a foot and a half from the ground. They will throw out three or 

 four sets of limbs and at the end of the first year when we come 

 to trim them, we cut out some of the branches and so you see we 

 have four or five good large branches and the tree is open right 

 from the start. 



MR. PETERS: Do they generally sprout out about where you 

 would like to have them? 



MR. BARTON: Our experience is that they start pretty close to 

 the ground, after the tree is set and headed back that way. In 

 the first two or three years of the life of that tree, I think there is 

 nothing more important than thorough cultivation. We think that 

 thorough cultivation pushes the tree and I don't think you can push 

 a peach tree too hard for the first two ond one-half years. Now the 

 crops that we grow in those trees are potatoes, sweet-potatoes, 

 melons and cantaloupes. The frequent cultivation of the truck 

 crops results in a good growth of the young orchard. The second 

 year, it is just about the same proposition and, after the second 

 year, you cannot grow most crops because the tree is so large that 

 you want a single row crop; and, after the third year, the cultiva- 

 tion depends on the size of the tree. We have an orchard five or 

 six years old where there is a great quantity of humus, making the 

 orchard very rank and we are going to cut out cultivation altogether 

 till late in May. Last year we had a magnificent set of fruit al- 

 though we lost quite a lot of it. So as I say the cultivation depends 

 largely on the existing conditions. If the orchard is slack in growth 

 you want to cultivate it early and keep it going as long as you can. 



In trimming, as I said, the two main points that we think we 

 are after are air and sunshine. Therefore, we start low to get the 

 tree down to the ground and accomplish this by cutting out the 

 head, then when the tree becomes full of fruit, the sun will come 

 right down through and ripen it up. The second year, we cut out 

 everything that runs toward the center; the third year, we do prac- 

 tically the same, and after that the trimming will depend on whether 

 the tree has got too thick on you. Last year, to prevent loss by frost, 

 we left a lot of wood, but we got through without frost and this 

 year puts us up against cleaning out the wood that we left last 

 year. 



When you get a low spreadinc: tree, it makes it easy to pick, 

 easy to spray and easy to trim. I have picked as hijjh as 500 baskets 

 to the acre and never had a ladder in the orchard. You can't do that 

 with high trees. Of conrse. in farming under these trees, you must 

 have low machines, with extension heads, etc., with which to do it. 

 You can't do it with the old-fashioned method of plowing with one 

 horse. 



When we come to the enemies of the peach, there are many; a 

 lot of them, I need say nothing about. The yellows: you probably 



