368 STATE HOETICULTDRAL SOCIETY. 



THE PLANTING OF PEACH TEEES. 



Jast now I see going the rounds of the papers that "all peach 

 trees should be cut back to a switch 18 to 36 inches." This is the in- 

 struction given by nurserymen 40 years ago. Will nurserymen never 

 learn anything ? Cut back to a switch, indeed ! If you go to these same 

 nurserymen, they will ask you more than double for their larger trees, 

 ihen tell you to cut them back to a swilch. Bah ! What nonsense. 

 When you buy peach trees for planting, purchase small sized trees. 

 Why? Because you get a multitude of fiber roots, as well as perfect 

 tops, that do not require cutting back. I believe a small peach tree, 

 say two or three feet, is preferable to a larger one. They cost only 

 about one-half as much ; the limbs are small and are seldom broken,, 

 and the roots are in good shape. You do not have to lo^e one year in 

 shaping your tree. I have trees planted two years of stock from two 

 to three feet with the leader cut back after the first year, that are fully 

 eight feet high and as much throagh the limbs. They had cultivation 

 and soil, I admit, but then they were of the class of trees mentioned. 



Give me the plant ; I will make the tree P. Holsinger, in Western 



Fruit Grower. 



THINNING OF PEACHES. 



David Baird read a paper on "Thinning of Peaches," giving some 

 of his experience. The peach crop the past year in this State set very 

 thickly, and three-fourths of the crop taken to market did not pay 

 expenses ; had they been thinned fully one-halt, the rest would have 

 been a paying crop. He thinned soon after the June drop began, leav- 

 ing no two peaches touching each other. The proper distance in thin- 

 ning is to leave no two closer than six inches apart. This refers to all 

 fruits as well as peaches. 



One member spoke of thinning peaches in his orchard, thinning 

 one large tree twice, taking oS 1,950 the first time and 450 the second 

 time. He afterwards gathered 15 baskets of fine peaches from the tree, 

 and said he is fully convinced that if he had not thinned he would not 

 have had three pints of perfect fruit, besides greatly injuring the tree. 

 Mr. Taylor recommended heading back the young wood of the tree 

 fully one-third or one-half, instead of so much thinning ; this will cost 

 much less and prove much more satisfactory. This can be done after 



