PEACH-GROWING FOR MARKET. 



Bulletiu No. 33, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



BY EKWIN F. SMITH. 



This bulletin is intended for tlie man who contemplates peach culture rather than 

 for the one who is successfully raising this crop. The latter needs no advice, but is 

 rather in a condition to give it; and if he who thinks of planting an orchard can find 

 a successful grower, by all means let him seek that man's counsel. 



In what part of the United States can peaches be grown, is one of the first ques- 

 tions likely to be asked by a foreigner or a person unacquainted with the subject. 

 This question admits of two answers. If peaches are desired simply for family 

 use, the answer is that they can be grown in nearly every state in the Union, and 

 in almost any part of any state, care of course being taken to select the right kind 

 of site, to plant varieties adapted to the climate, and to give suitable winter pro- 

 tection in the extreme north and in high mountain regions. Even in the inhospit- 

 able climates along our northern border, peaches may be grown out of doors with 

 considerable success if the trees are dug under, tipped over, and covered with straw 

 each autumn, and not uncovered and righted up until danger from late spring frosts 

 has passed. Some of the finest peaches the writer has ever seen were grown iu 

 this way at the Kansas state experiment station, following a winter and spring 

 which destroyed evei-y blossom on unprotected trees for miles around. The grow- 

 ing of peaches in large orchards for commercial purposes is quite another matter, 

 and what follows will relate especially to such orchards. 



Climate is one of the first considerations in the selection of a place for the planting 

 of commercial peach orchards, and the wide variety we have in the United States 

 affords every opportunity for selecting a suitable location. The old notion that the 

 peach is a tropical tree and must have a warm climate is not well founded. It is 

 a tree of middle latitude and does not like extreme cold nor extreme heat. The 

 climate of China, which is probably its native home, is in many respects like parts 

 of our own country. 



Commercial orchards should not be planted in regions much subject to severe 

 winters or to late spring frosts. It is well also to avoid regions where the winters 

 are very mild, such as the extreme southern parts of the United States, owing to 

 the fact that the blossoms are likely to be forced out in late winter or early spring, 

 and afterward injured by frosts. It is best to select a climate which is not given 

 to violent extremes of any sort, and which has a considerable rainfall, fairly well 

 distributed throughout the year. Thirty-six to fifty inches of rainfall annually is 

 about the proper amount. If the quantity of water precipitated is much below this 

 the deficiency should be made up by irrigation. 



There are many kinds of soil in Avhich orchards can be grown successfully. At 

 present there are commercial orchards in New England on stony and gravelly soils 

 of poor character; in Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey, on fertile loams and on 

 very light pine sands; in Pennsylvania, on mountain soils derived from limestones 

 and sandstones; in South Carolina and Georgia, on light pine sands and on stiff 

 red clay lands derived from the local decomposition of granites; in Michigan, on 

 rather heavy clay hills, and also very successfully on loams and light pine sands, 

 even on beach sand so light as to be blown about by the winds; in northwestern 

 New York, on quite a variety of clays, gravels, and sands, forming the old lake 



