WINTER MEETING. 249 



of Missouri, or any other State, without attending the State meetings and taking 

 an active part in their work. I think we have a noble society and a grand set of 

 officers, and no one appreciates it more than I. 



No. baskets shipped 81 



Crates fancy shipped 201K 



Crates medium shipped 413J2 



No. of boxes shipped 294 



Total No. of packages 993 



Total cost of packages '. $112 90 



JNo . bushels shipped 593 



Net returns per bushel after paying for packages and expenses 1 60 



No. crates given away 6 



■Cost of wrappers 15 00 



A good packer can wrap three crates an hour fancy. 

 A good packer can wrap five crates an hour medium. 



Cost of labor for wrapping $8 25 



First ripe peaches June 11. 



Sent to World's fair 6 baskets, 4 boxes, 64 crates. 



Total sales peaches shipped $1 ,092 62 



Total sales peaches Thayer sales 280 70 



Total sales 1 ,373 32 



PEACHES AND PEACH-GROWING. 



BY JAMES LAVALLE. 



How to plant and how to grow an orchard is a question that concerns the 

 owner of every farm who is desirous of making his farm useful and profitable. 

 First, we must select the site, but as all sites do not slope to the desired points, nor 

 everyone's land lay so as to afford the choicest selections, it becomes a matter of 

 importance to be very careful in the selection of varieties of fruits adapted to the 

 lay of the land as we have it, for there are varieties adapted to any exposure, what- 

 ever the lay of land may be. 



In planting an orchard there is perhaps no better plan than to first visit all 

 the orchards in the neighborhood, and then select such varieties as have done well 

 on land similar to your own. The location of yourorchard having been determined , 

 a thorough preparation of the land becomes a first and prime necessity. Too often 

 the orchard is planted on unprepared land, and trees are selected that are five or 

 six years old for the purpose and in the hope of getting fruit the first year. This 

 is a great and serious mistake. Never plant trees more than one or two years old, 

 and 3ee that the land is as well prepared for them as for corn or potatoes, and as 

 much better as possible; then will your trees do you the best service and bear as 

 early and much more profitably for the care and judgment bestowed. 



The land should not be too rich or the trees will make useless wood, but 

 should be of the kind that will produce 40 to 60 bushels of corn to the acre. But 

 if the land is too poor to do this, then give plenty of good, well-rotted barn-yard 

 manure, well worked in by plowing and harrowing. 



In laying out an orchard, experience teaches us that there are certain distances 

 to be observed both between the rows and between the trees. When you have 

 determined upon these, take a good, steady team and plow the furrows out on each 

 side, then take a shovel and dig out the hole ur^lH it is about two feet deep. Old 

 chips or bones and wood of all kinds are good to plant on if they are filled in the 



