74 State Horticultural Society. 



along this line, but at present we can only report little more than progress. 

 As a comparative test we have now something over three hundred varie- 

 ties of peaches — a great many chance seedlings that have been picked up 

 from time to time and are being comparatively grown to a fruiting age, 

 as well as seedlings that have been produced by crossing. This work 

 requires a great amount of time and patience. In the first place, a variety 

 proven to be hardy this year may not be so next, so that it becomes neces- 

 sary to carry this test through a term of years in order to get definite 

 results. The Elberta is usually considered tender in the bud, but this 

 year the Elberta has proven itself to be more hardy than some of our 

 skin and bone seedlings. It is not only the degree of cold, but the con- 

 dition of the bud and the tree when exposed. If we could know before 

 the beginning of the growing season just what the season would be, how 

 much rain, when the cold weather would come and how much summer 

 weather we are to have in winter time, we could come nearer producing 

 a crop every year. There certainly must be then some relation between 

 the conditions under which the buds were formed and the degree of 

 temperature that they will withstand. This being the case, would it 

 not be possible to bring about these conditions, to some extent at least, by 

 methods of pruning, cultivating, etc. ? We know that if the fruit buds 

 are formed under conditions favorable to rapid growth, that is, if there 

 is a good growing season with good cultivation until late in the fall, the 

 fruit-bearing wood will be tender and succulent, the buds will be large 

 and appear to be well developed, but will not be sufficiently matured by 

 the time severe weather comes. On the other hand, if the season has 

 been unusually dry, with no cultivation or pruning, the buds will not have 

 sufficient vitality to withstand severe winter. The object then in caring 

 for the orchard should be to give it sufficient cultivation to induce a 

 strong, healthy growth, so that the buds will have sufficient vitality, 

 but stop this growth in time to allow it to thoroughly mature before cold 

 weather. 



We are at present conducting some experiments at the Station in 

 summer pruning, with a view of regulating bud development. Elberta 

 that were severely pruned at intervals from the 15th of July until the 15th 

 of August of last year show at present some fruit, while in our variety 

 orchard, which was pruned in the ordinary manner (spring pruning), 

 containing a great number of varieties, there is not a peach. In this experi- 

 ment it was our aim to give the trees good cultivation early in the season, 

 thereby inducing a strong, vigorous growth ; then to insure the maturing 

 of this wood different degrees of pruning was practiced. The best results 

 w^x^ secured last veaj* from those in which the main leader was cut out 



