Slimmer Meeting. 63 



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and apple, we have found the very best on the low headed trees, and 

 often within three to six feet from the ground. However, in our former 

 experience in the Ohio river valley we found the best specimens much 

 higher up. 



Local Condiiicns. — ^Much depends upon them, and it is a matter 

 of great importance that each individual grower should study them 

 thoroughly and follow carefully that line of practice that will insure 

 success in his locality. In the w-est and far out from large bodies of 

 water we find a dryer climate, more wind and sunshine than in the east. 

 Hence the trees may be grown with lower and thicker heads without 

 any detriment whatever to the fruit. While near large bodies of water 

 and along rivers where fog prevails, it will be found absolutely necessary 

 to have a much thinner if not higher top in order that the fruit may have 

 sufficient sunshine to prevent the fruit from being woolly, colorless and 

 insipid. 



Cutting in. — Some growers advocate cutting in annually, by this we 

 mean cutting off one-third to one-half of the last year's growth early in 

 the spring. This causes the young branches to multiply and more 

 bearing wood is produced near the main trunk. This may be an advantage 

 and do very well to practice while trees are young and small, or by the 

 man who has a few trees m his garden or small orchard. But in the 

 commercial orchard where the trees are numbered by the thousand, 

 very few, if any, will ever continue to practice it when the trees become 

 large. However as it is the nature of the young peach tree to bear the 

 fruit on the inner limbs, which usually die after ripening the fruit, then 

 the next year the fruit will be found on a new^ set of limbs further out 

 from the trunk, and so on from year to year so that it becomes an actual 

 necessity to adopt some method of cutting in, in order to have a good 

 supply of strong vigorous growth near the main limbs. 



Time — The pnming may be done during mild winter days toward 

 spring. All dead, half dead, and broken limbs should be cut out, as such 

 wood is poison, and detrimental to the health of the tree, and the flavor 

 of the fruit. If trees have borne a crop or two and are becoming open 

 in the top, then they must be cut back. They may be cut back into two, 

 three or even four year old wood. We do the work with a Hawkeye 

 pruner. If we find our fruit buds all killed and the trees need it we cut 

 the entire top back. The winter of 1898 and 1899 was so severe that 

 many peach orchards were badly killed, and heavy cutting back became 

 a necessity. We cut back a number mostly Giampion and Elberta. 



We cut short, leaving only five to eight main stubs from two to five 

 feet long from trunk. Thev all made a fine growth the next summer and 



'fe 



