PEACHES OF THE MICHIGAN PEACH BELT. 485 



first, Hale's Early, Wheeler's Early, Cooledge's Favorite, and Yellow Honest 

 John, shonld be supplanted as soon as possible, with something better. 



But trees, however excellent, cannot give satisfaction except under proper 

 management. Our purpose is to glance at a few prominent points in this 

 connection : 



First — OnUivation. — We plow early in the season, with an ordinary two- 

 horse plow, the usual depth, making the ridge in the center one way, and dead 

 furrow the other. By reversing the process tlie following year the ground is 

 kept level. The two furrows on either side nearest the trees, are made with a 

 one-horse laud-side plow, taking care not to disturb the roots near the tree. 

 The after culture is continued with the harrow, and with the two-horse culti- 

 vator, until picking time, especially in time of drouth, when the cultivation 

 should be constant. Then for the rest of the season, to enable the new wood 

 to reach full maturity, the orchard is left without cultivation. The necessary 

 amount of hand work, to hunt the borers effectually, and prepare the ground 

 for the liansom traps, necessitates good cultivation about the tree trunks. 



Second — For the Kansom process of catching curculio, we refer to an article 

 in the report of 1871. We catch also under the traps, many other injurious 

 beetles, and noxious worms. We commence catching early in May, Avhen the 

 curculio first makes its appearance. We cannot recommend, as yet, the disuse 

 of the '*' sheet and jarring'' process, although we are not using it. 



Third— In the early part of June we commence thinning the fruit, and 

 drive the work to completion as rapidly as possible. A thorough thinning of 

 the fruit cannot be too earnestly recommended as essential to the value of the 

 fruit crop as well as to the health and longevity of the trees. 



Fourth — Of not less importance is annual pruning. We discard entirely the 

 " shortening-in" system, as generally understood, that is, the cutting back a 

 portion of the last year's growth. The natural tendency of the tree to grow 

 stocky is sufficient, with the annual thinning of the branches, to keep it in 

 proper form. Nature knows better than we where and how to place the annual 

 termination of limb, and so radical interference with her method as this " cut- 

 ting back " can only be justified under exceptional circumstances, or where 

 climatic influences require special treatment. We cut back only to keep the 

 head of the tree in proportion, and within reaching distance with a seven-foot 

 ladder. Any tendency to grow long, straggling branches, is overcome by thin- 



(he tree, are of double the size. The 5'oung slioots, wliich start out abundanlly from every 

 part of the tree, keep it well supplied with bearing wood for the next year, wliile the greater 

 luxuriance and size of the foliage, as a necessary consequence, produces larger and higher 

 flavored fruit.- Thus, while we liave secured against the prevalent evii, an over-crop, we 

 have also provided for the full nourishment of the present year's fruit, and induced a supply 

 of fruit-bearing shoots throughout the tree for the next season. 



This course of pruning is followed regularlj', every year, for the whole life of the tree. 

 It is done much more rapidly than one would suppose; the pruned wounds are too small to 

 cause any gum to flow ; and it is done at the close of winter, when labor is worth least to 

 the cultivator. 



The appearance of a tree pruned in this Vi"d}\ after many years of bearing, is a very 

 striking contrast to that of the poor skeletons nsually seen. It is, in fact, a tine object, 

 with a thick, low, bushy head, tilled with healthy young wood, and in the summer with an 

 abundance of dark-green, healthy foliage and handsome fruit. Can any intelligent man 



* It is well, in sliorteniiig:back, to cutoff tlie slioot close above a rcood-bud rather than a blossom-bud. 

 Few persons are awaie how mucli the size and beauty of the fruit depend on the size and vii^'or of (he leaves. 

 We have seen two peach trees of tlie same ase side by side, one uupruned, and the other res'ulariy shortened- 

 in, and both bearing about four busheia. Thiit of the latter was, however, of double the size, and iucom- 

 parably finer. 



