FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT. 109 



One thing of importance in growing peaches is to get an ideal loca- 

 tion. We prefer to have a location which is high and well drained, 

 a north to eastern slope, although we have some of our orchards located 

 on a southern slope, and they usually did very well, but occasionally 

 we get a winter when the sun will melt and the wind will blow off the 

 snow and then we have trouble with "root freezing." 



The first consideration is to have a location which is above the other 

 fellow's location, the highest you can get, with a gradual slope, although 

 one of my best orchards is on a level plateau. I like a loam soil, under- 

 laid with clay-subsoil, although our orchard varies from a sandy loam 

 to heavy clay and we plant the varieties according to the condition of 

 the soil. 



In the next place we must not have a location where the water stands 

 or where the land is springy. Where these wet spots are you will find 

 that the yield will be poor and the fruit will be liable to drop off before 

 its time. 



As to fitting the ground for the trees, I like to plow under a good 

 heavy clover sod, or sod of some sort, and I believe in supplementing 

 with commercial fertilizers. One of the best orchards I ever grew, when 

 we planted the trees after we plowed under a heavy clover sod, and 

 another that was very successful was where we plowed under a heavy 

 crop of June grass. It had not had a load of manure for fifteen years 

 previous to the planting of that orchard and developed into being one 

 of the best in Kent county. 



As to soil I think a sandy loam, or clay loam, underlaid with red 

 clay. 



A Member — Do you under-drain when you set your orchard? 



Mr. Braman — We have had some under-draining, but none of our 

 peach orchards are under-drained. In our location the soil that needs 

 under-draining is unfit for peach orchard lands. 



A Member — You let the other fellow do the under-draining. 



Mr. Braman — Yes. This orchard we fall-plowed just before Thanks- 

 giving and then the next spring set out the trees after thoroughly 

 fitting the ground and planted corn in between. And then we went 

 and gave that land an application of 300 lbs. of fertilizer to the acre. 

 I grew the best corn on that piece that I ever grew in my life. Last 

 year, a year ago, we sowed some sand-vetch and we had quite a crop of 

 sand-vetch. This last year we plowed it under. My men are not very 

 much in love with turning that stuff under. We discarded it this 

 season and used clover more. Perhaps we would not have had so much 

 trouble but I think we did not get at it soon enough and then I think 

 another reason that made it so hard was that it got so dry. 



Now as to the varieties that you should plant. This all depends 

 upon the market which you cater to — Avhether shipping your fruit or 

 disposing of it in a local market. Personally, we have two classes of 

 markets to deal with, local and the shipping market. For shipping 

 we use such varieties as the St. Johns of Michigan, Engles, Elberta also 

 some Gold Mine, but for local trade we start in with the Deweys which 

 has been one of the best money makers here in Grand Rapids. We have 

 had from two to three dollars a bushel for these peaches every year. 

 It is the only one we had to thin this year. We followed up with the 



