EXPERIMENT STATION WORK WITH PEACHES. 419 



In this connection it may be stated that in the Hale orchard of 

 100,000 peach trees in Georgia the trees were root pruned according 

 to the Stringfellow method and have given entirel}' satisfactory 

 results. Reviewing all the data available, it would seem that in cer- 

 tain localities, particularly' on warm, moist, loainy soils, the stub- 

 root method of pruning back the trees may give entireh' satisfactory 

 results, but station evidence is generally in favor of less severe prun- 

 ing. It has been clearl}" shown, however, that leaving on all the long 

 roots of peach nursery stock is unnecessary and useless. 



CULTIVATION AND COVER CROPS. 



During the first two or three years after the trees have been set in 

 the orchard the space between the rows can safely be planted with 

 low-growing crops, leaving a space alongside the trees for cultivation 

 and restricting more and more the area devoted to crops with the 

 increasing age of the orchard. It is generally agreed that after about 

 four years, when the trees come in bearing, no crop should be grown, 

 but the whole orchard space given to the trees. 



The fact that peaches do not bear some years is taken as an excuse 

 sometimes for not cultivating the orchard that year. This is a 

 serious mistake, because the flower buds of the following crop are 

 produced during that year. Any lack of attention or cultivation 

 directly influences the crop of fruit and the neglect results in injury 

 to the tree. By the work of borers, scale, or diseases trees ma}^ be 

 so weakened that they may fall an easy victim to any unusual severe 

 weather the following winter. The New Jersey stations cite an 

 instance '^ in which the fruit buds of all the fruit trees in an orchard 

 were killed one winter, as the result of which the grower left the trees 

 in sod and cut hay in the orchard the following summer. At one 

 end of the orchard, however, several rows of trees were tilled and 

 planted with potatoes. The following year the entire orchard was 

 well tilled and cared for but it was too late for the best crop. The 

 part that had been tilled the previous summer gave six times as 

 many peaches as the part that was not tilled. 



The tenderness of the peach makes it very desirable that cultivation 

 be such as will tend to encourage the ripening of the wood of the tree 

 before winter sets in. This is facilitated in a large measure by the 

 planting of crops in the orchard about midsummer wliich, by their 

 growth, will evaporate the soil moisture and utilize the plant food to 

 such an extent as to discourage any excessive growth of the trees in 

 the fall and bring about a well ripened condition of the wood. U. P. 

 Hedrick has shown'' that there is an intimate relationship between 

 various herbaceous plants used as cover crops and the peach, 



•New Jersey Stas. Bui. 197. 6 Rural New Yorker, 43(1904), No. 2862, p. 858. 



