WINTER MEETING. 245 



J. 0. Evans — Did not they do it before ! Last year one of them 

 came to the meeting and made one of the nicest speeches we ever 

 heard. 



Dr. Porter — They told me to invite you to make Columbia your 

 home. Rooms, museums, libraries etc. are at your service. I also 

 hold in my pocket a letter from the town council, inviting 'you to go 

 there. I want to say that you can thus become acquainted with our 

 work. I would rather have one personal interview than a bushel 

 basket of letters. I don't want to be held responsible for the short- 

 comings of my predecessors ; it is as much as I can do to sweep my 

 own door-yard. 



A. Nelson — Will you try salt as a fertilizer for farm crops — try 

 eight bushels, four bushels and two bushels per acre 1 



Dr. Porter — I will add this to the many experiments we have on 

 fertilizers. 



Friday, December 8, 7:30 p. m. 

 GROWING AND TRAINING A PEACH ORCHA.RD. 



BY S. W. GILBERT. 



If a person wishes to grow a profitable peach orchard, the first thing to do is 

 to find a soil and climate suitable for the production of this delicious fruit. 



After repeated tests, the southern slopes of the Ozarks, and especially Oregon 

 county, are found to be all that can be desired both in soil and climate, for the pro- 

 duction of the largest and best peaches produced in the United States. 



Having our location, we proceed to prepare the ground for the trees. Here in 

 this country we find all lands covered with timber ranging in size from brush to 

 trees three feet in diameter. Cut the trees and fall in winrows so that they can 

 be easily burned, and do this work in July and August if possible. 



After ground is cleared, I use a coulter, breaking the ground both ways thor- 

 oughly, and then plow with a common turning plow just as near four feet deep as 

 I can. Harrow well, mark o£f rows 16J feet apart each way, setting trees in cross. 

 I usually make every 10th row 20 feet, in order to give plenty of room for gathering 

 up fruit when trees are old. 



Never set a peach-tree that is more than one year old. The tree should not 

 be too large ; about four feet high is large enough, and I have seen fine trees grown 

 frotn a tree not over six inches high. A good, healthy root is the most important 

 thing to look after, and not the top. Cut the tree back to two feet high, and let the 

 branches come out within a few inches of the ground, and leave a stub an inch long 

 when trimming the body back to a whip. 



PROPER VARIETIES. 



A most important item in successful peach culture is to select the proper varie- 

 ties. How often have I seen orchards that had sadly disappointed the owner by 

 the nurserymen not sending the trees that were ordered— perhaps not intentionally 



