364 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



WILL IT PAY TO PLANT PEACHES, EITHER FOR HOME USE 



OR MARKET? 



BY HENRY SPEER. 



Mr. President — This question has been asked in our society and 

 has been referred to me to answer in a paper upon the subject. 



I have no doubt the samb question has been asked thousands of 

 times, in various ways and by different persons in the last few years, 

 in public meetings, in private conversation, and in the minds of those 

 contemplating- planting- an orchard, and no definite answer can be given. 



The question, will it pay, is the one uppermost in the human mind, 

 particularly in the American mind ; and any enterprise that does not 

 hold out some promise of pay will not have many followers. Now, in 

 order to more fully understand our subject, we must inquire into the 

 nature of the peach. The true home of the peach is in the milder 

 parts of the temperate zone ; while not a tropical plant (as it does no 

 good in even the extreme southern parts of the United States) ; yet it 

 will not endure very great extremes of cold. When the thermometer 

 falls to 10 degrees below zero it is almost certain death to its fruit buds. 

 Though partial crops have been raised when it reached 15, but when 

 it drops to 20 there is no hope for fruit, and unless the trees are in 

 very good condition to meet it, we can say good bye to them also. 

 Now, I believe there are none to deny that * ur soil is adapted to the 

 peach. Neither have I ever heard it questioned that our spring and 

 summer seasons are favorable. The peach buds and wocd usually 

 ripen up well in the fall and go into winter in good condition. So it 

 appears to me that all the conditions are very favorable, except one, 

 that is the north winds of the winter sweeping down over the plains of 

 Dakota, fresh from the icy regions of the frigid zone, cause the tem- 

 perature to drop a little too low for the peach ; and it appears from the 

 treatment that the peach is receiving of late years it has got too low 

 for the planters also. Now if I am correct in my premises, it resolves 

 itself into a question of meteorology ; in other words, are we to have 

 a continuation of the kind of winters the past four have been ; if so, 

 we may as well give up the peach at once, as it will continue to be a 



