Winter Meeting. -^21 



at a low price, and were it a regular bearer, it would be placed at the 

 head of the list. The Miner, another valuable variety, ripens soon after 

 the Newman ; in fact, we had the Newman and Miner at the same time 

 this year, the Newman holding on until the Miner began to ripen. The 

 Miner we consider the best of the three as to quality, and bears every 

 other year, about the size of the Wild Goose, darker in color and better 

 bloom. We also have Forest Garden, but do not consider it of much 

 value for the commercial orchard. As a variety for home use, however, 

 I would include it, as it is of good quality, though small. In the family 

 list I would leave out the Wild Goose, for if you only have a tree or 

 two, the plums ripen a few at a time and drop, and you can hardly get 

 enough to make it an object to take care of them. This may be over- 

 come, however, by picking as soon as they begin to turn red, and ripen 

 them in the house. That there are other valuable varieties goes without 

 saying, I suppose, but the three mentioned give us a season from the 

 middle of July until about the middle of September, and had we a good 

 variety ripening after that time, we would need no others. We plant 

 on well prepared land, plowing a furrow where we want the trees to 

 stand. Use a small tree in preference to a large one. Plant sixteen 

 feet in the row, rows twenty feet apart, and mix our varieties to insure 

 good fertilize action. Cultivate well as long as we can get among the 

 trees, and use Bordeaux for fungi and arsenic for insects. The trees 

 will do the rest. 



GROWING A PEACH ORCHARD. 



THE FAMILY PEACH ORCHARD. 

 (A. L. Zimmerman, Weatherby, Mo.) 



The first thing is to select a location that is well drained ; one that 

 lays high enough above the surrounding ground that water does not 

 run down on it, and does not remain on it. This has been my misfortune 

 at my present location. During our wet seasons my trees have died 

 from too much water ; trees three to four years planted, nice and thrifty, 

 start out nicely in the spring, but are dead by fall or so weakened that 

 the next spring they put out a few weakly leaves, then die. Another 

 thing, ground ought not to be made extra rich by applying large 

 quantities of manure; land that will produce thirty to forty bushels of 

 corn to the acre in a fair season is rich enough. Put your ground in 

 good condition, as for potatoes or corn, get good trees, one year from 



