PEACH-GROWING IN OREGON. 



By Hon. A. H. Carson, Commissioner of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture 



for the Third District. 



The peach can be grown in many locations on the Pacific Coast, at least 

 in nearly all cases the family can grow a few peaches for the home with 

 care if the location is properly chosen. Where commercial peach-growing is 

 desired the question of location near shipping points must be considered, 

 as the peach is a tender fruit, and will not stand a long haul over bad roads 

 and reach market in prime condition. 



SOILS ADAPTED TO GROWIXG THE PEACH. 



In Southern Oregon nearly all of our red-hill loam soils are adapted to 

 peach-growing, provided they have the necessary depth, not less than two 

 feet, free from float rock so that good cultivation can be done. It is im- 

 portant in choosing a location for a peach orchard to have the orchard on 

 ground two to three hundred feet above the valley ac'jacent thereto, as 

 such locations are usually naturally drained, and through air drainage are 

 not as liable to the injury of the bloom during spring frosts. These high 

 locations are always warmer during a frosty period than ground on lower 

 levels. 



PREPAEATION OF SOIL FOR PLANTING. 



Ground just cleared should be farmed in some crop a year or two before 

 planting the young trees. This is done to take the general rawness out of 

 the new soil and permit the soil to decay and make available the plant food 

 in the soil for the young peach tree. 



PLOWING. 



The best results with the young peach orchard will be had if the ground 

 is carefully and thoroughly plowed and the surface soil well fined with the 

 harrow: in fact, the grower will find he will be well repaid for his extra 

 labor if he subsoils his land before planting his young peach trees. With a 

 turning plow turn over the soil to a depth of eight inches, following up each 

 furrow with the sub-soil plow, breaking up the sub-soil eight inches deeper. 

 Soil thus plowed facilitates drainage in case of heavv rains, drawing the 

 water falling during a rain through the soil to drain off through the furrow 

 made by the sub-soil plow, in place of draining off over the soil surface, 

 carrying with the surplus water the plant food you need for the young 

 peach tree. The sub-soiling of the ground is not only a means of conserving 

 moisture during ci;ltivation, but it is a fertilization of the soil as well 

 during rainy periods. 



AGE OF TREES TO PLANT. 



I would always plant one-year-old trees, trees that had not been pruned in 

 the nursery. 



DISTANCE TO PLANT. 



The standard distance to plant has been, in Southern Oregon as well as 

 other points on the coast, IGVj by IGV2 feet. I regard this distance too close 



