66 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



that learn to grade strawberries, and get the strawberries picked by them, 

 and fire the other fellows, you are all right. 



FACTORS AFFECTING HARDINESS OF THE PEACH. 

 (prof. u. p. hedrick, geneva, n. y.) 



The peach affords a striking example of a plant undergoing acclimatiza- 

 tion. In the wild state, this species is endowed with a constitution fitted 

 to endure the heat of climates almost subtropical. Under domestication 

 it is gradually becoming inured to climates far to the north of its habitat 

 and so cold that at first it could not have lived in them. It may be that 

 this change is somewhat due to acclimation in which the plant is naturally 

 or spontaneously becoming habituated to cold, but the peach can now grow 

 in colder climates than formerly chiefly because of the efforts of man to secure 

 this change in the species. What are the means by which man can aid in 

 acclimatizing a species or a variety to a climate at first injurious to it? 



I have made two efforts to find some explanation of the varying behavior of 

 peach trees during freezes and frosts, working at the problem from the 

 standpoint of the horticulturist, and the information obtained in these in- 

 vestigations, show some of the means by which man is helping to acclimatize 

 the peach and by which possibly other species might be acclimatized. In 

 the spring of 1905 I addressed letters to about 100 of the best peach growers 

 in Michigan asking for their experience as to the hardiness of the peach 

 in tree and bud. In the spring of 1907 about the same number of letters 

 were addressed to peach growers in New York. This paper is a brief review 

 of the answers obtained. In making these investigations I have visited 

 the orchards of many of my correspondents and have noted the condition 

 of the trees under consideration and have a personal knowledge of many 

 of the conditions discussed. 



The factors considered in the investigation fall under two heads. 



1. Cultural treatment which increases the ability of the individual tree 

 to withstand cold. 



2. Variations in the species favorable to greater hardiness to cold. 



In presenting and discussing the information obtained, I shall advance 

 few or no theories but shall simply set forth the facts that have been re- 

 ported to me. 



1. The factors of environment and of cultural treatment noted as affecting 

 acclimatization are as follows: 



I. INFLUENCE OF SOIL AND HARDINESS. 



It is usually held that trees are hardiest on sandy, gravelly or stony soils. 

 In the peach orchards of Michigan the growers consulted held this to be the 

 case almost without exception. But in New York the kind of soil seems 

 to make but little difference providing it is warm and dry. If these two 

 factors be favorable peaches seem to thrive in any of the soils of New York. 

 The difference in opinion between the peach growers of Michigan and New 

 York arises from the fact that the great belt in which peaches are grown 

 in the first named state has a sandy soil and growers there have scarcely 



