46 The Bulletin 



become fully iloniunit they are not influenced appreciably by tempera- 

 tures tbat would, after the ending of the rest period, cause the resump- 

 tion of growth activities, start the buds, and make them tender. 



The rest period is not broken suddenly, but gradually. After the 

 rest period proper has ended and growth activities within the trees 

 incronso, buds become gradually more responsive to influences of tem- 

 perature. 



If all the cultural practices are handled in such a manner that the 

 trees cease growing and begin to ripen their wood early, the rest period 

 begins earlier and is completed in early winter. If a period of warm 

 weather occurs after the resting period is over, the trees are stimulated 

 into gi-owth activities and the buds are started. On the other hand, if 

 the handling of the cultural practices has been such as to promote 

 growth until rather late into the fall, the rest period does not come on 

 so soon and is not completed until correspondingly late in the winter. 

 The trees remain dormant during the warm periods in December and 

 January, and the buds are not started enough to be injured by the 

 lower temperatures that follow. 



It seems, then, that the most advisable system of management for 

 the peach orchard in the South consists in handling the different cul- 

 tural practices, such as tillage, fertilization, pruning, thinning, disease 

 and insect control so that the trees are maintained in a vigorous condi- 

 tion and kept growing until rather late in the fall. 



