492 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



THE CULTIVATION OF THE PEACH. 



South Haven", June 13, 18?i. 



T. T. Lyou said the tendency of the peach was to root near the surface of 

 the ground, where it was warmest, and therefore he would not advise deep 

 plowing, but would keep the surface mellow, well fertilized, and manured with 

 composted manure. This was in harmony witli his theory and former practice 

 of low-heading trees, and heading in the long limbs to make a round low top. 

 The only objection he could see to this plan here was the inconvenience in 

 catching the curculio under the chip traps ; in the use of sheets he could see 

 no objections to low heads; they were an advantage in thinning, picking, and 

 pruning; it shaded the trunk and ground, which was a benefit in drouth and 

 extreme cold ; they were not so liable to be blown by the wind, which some- 

 times injured the foliage and fruit. 



0. C. Lathrop said he would secure good dry sandy loam, manure heavily, 

 plant deep, cultivate deep, head high, flatten the top, shorten in, and thin out 

 the wood and fruit. Thought by this method a peach orchard would last fifty 

 years. By cultivating deep, the soil was made warm and moist, which pro- 

 tected the trees from drouth, and the depth of root braced the trees from the 

 wind and preserved them from the cold in winter. 



A. J. Pierce approved of much cultivation ; it was as great a benefit to a 

 peach tree as to a crop of corn; would avoid all extremes in peach culture. 



THINNING FRUIT. 



South Havex, June 20th, 1874. 



The subject for discussion at the pomological meeting Monday evening was 

 "The Best Method of Thinning Fruit," and was practically illustrated by A. 

 S. Dyckman on limbs laden with peaches brought in for that purpose. He 

 first removed one-third of the small limbs on the branch to allow the liffht 

 and heat to reach the remaining ones, so as to give room to the proper devel- 

 opment of the leaves, wood, and fruit. He next removed nine-tenths of the 

 peaches, leaving them distributed over the limb so that no two peaches left 

 were nearer than six inches of each other. On two, three, and four-year-old 

 trees, having in the neighborhood of two, three, and four thousand peaches 

 each, he would remove them so as to leave but two, three, and four hundred 

 respectively. The tendency of the peach, he said, was to early overbear and 

 ruin themselves for the future by enfeebling the vitality of the trees. By 

 thoroughly thinning the wood and fruit, and adding sufficient fertilizers, and 

 thorough cultivation, the trees would increase in size and productiveness. 



L. H. Bailey said he was going to adopt the practice of thinning his apple 

 orchard; he had commenced by thoroughly thinning the wood, and was going 

 to thin the fruit by removing with a pair of shears two-thirds of the apples, 

 leaving them well distributed over the tree. He hoped after getting rid of the 

 codling moth, as Mr. Dyckman had of the curculio, to remove a larger portion 

 of the fruit at this season of the year while it was small. He remarked at a 

 previous meeting that it taxed the vitality of the tree as much to grow 

 wormy apples as to mature perfect specimens, and the shedding of too much 



