293 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



1874, that was awarded by a highly intelligent committee, after a careful in- 

 spection of competing orchards in different parts of the State, which had been 

 treated mainly by the thianing-out mode maintained by Mr. Dyckman. Mr. 

 Engle says : 



LETTER FROM C. EXGLE. 



Paw Paw, Jan. Ist, 1875. 



Dear Sir — I commpnccd llie shorteniDg-in S3'stem of pruning the peach when the trees 

 were six years old and by trying a few trees the first season. The result was so very satis- 

 factory, the trees so pruned yielding nearly as much in quantity and the fruit of double and 

 some treble the size, that I wont over nearly the whole orchard the following season. A 

 few trees have been left without pruning until the present, for the sake of experiment; 

 although, after two years' experience, there was no doubt in my mind about its beneficial 

 effects. The benefits accruing are treble: first, an increased market value of the fruit; 

 second, a more handsome, vitrorous, and healthy tree ; and third, a great saving of labor and 

 time in thinning the fruit. We all know what an unsightly object an old peach tree be- 

 comes when left to itself. A few long, lean, skeleton branches, with nearly all the foliage 

 and fruit at the extreme ends will correctly describe them. All this can be remedied, and 

 handsome, round, compact head, well filled with foliage and fruit throughout by the simple 

 process of shortening in. I usually choose mild weather in the late fall or winter in which 

 to perform the work. Early spring is just as good a time, only our duties are more pressing 

 then, and if put off until that time is very apt to be neglected. I have come to consider it 

 an absolate necessity, the most so of any work performed in cultivating the peach. Occa- 

 sionally, I have found it of great advantage to cut back some of the longer branches to 

 where they are an inch to an inch and one-half in diameter, but usually it is only neces- 

 sary to shorten the new growth from one-half to two-thirds, shortening the longer growths 

 the most. My trees so treated exhibit all the beauty and vigor of Ibrra and growth at 

 twelve years of age usually seen in trees of four and five years. When the season for thin- 

 ning the fruit arrives, I find it takes only about one-third the time to do it. This of itself 

 would pay if there were no other benefits, as at that time we are drove with all kinds of 

 work, and are apt to neglect, or, at best, slight this very necessary labor. For I hold, that 

 no man who raises peaches for market can afford to let his trees mature a great mass of 

 small, inferior fruit, which will bring next to nothing, when, by judicious thinning, he can 

 get the highest market price. On my younger orchards I have commenced cutting back at 

 four years from setting, but shortening only the leading shoots the first season. 



From the six years' experience on my older orchard,! believe the life of the peach can be 

 prolonged to a much greater age than is usually attained by a severe, yearly shortening in. 



Yours truly, 



C. ENGLE. 



It is nrged also, by others than Mr. Dyckman, that this mode of pruning is 

 not adapted to trees grown npon the light soil of the peach belt. If the soil 

 is not rich enough to make a sufficient annual growth to sustain this shorten- 

 ing in, it should be enriched; and if that is impossible, then in such localities 

 peach-growing will also soon be found both unprofitable and impossible. Mr. 

 Dyckman depends upon '• the natural tendency of the tree to grow stocky, 

 with the annual thinning of the branches to keep it in proper form." 



Of the varieties adapted to Michigan, the Hales and Crawfords particularly 

 have a somewhat stocky habit, and these varieties would probably need less 

 shortening in ; but in view of the well known nature of the peach never to 

 start buds from old wood, and the tendency of its terminal buds to push np- 

 Avard and outward at the expense of the side shoots, I am at a loss to under- 

 stand how a round and symmetrical head is to be maintained by thinning out 

 branches. And if a stocky habit of growth is to be depended on, this treat- 

 ment will not apply to trees with long, drooping growth, like the Barnard, the 

 Hill's Chili, and the Jacques Rareripe, the varieties that to-day furnish the 

 strongest hope for the future of peach-growing in Michigan. 



HEIGHT OF HEAD. 



A paper upon this subject is not complete without a brief reference at least 



