EXPERIMENT STATION WORK WITH PEACHES. 421 



and produced heavy crops of excellent fruit when 3 feet of water was 

 applied to the orchard in winter and none whatever applied through- 

 out the growing season of six to eight months, except the limited 

 rainfall. 



Roots were found in abundance at a depth of 12 to 16 feet and many 

 were found beyond 20 feet. It is due to this fact that sufficient water 

 can be stored in the soil in winter to carry the trees through the sum- 

 mer without irrigation. The roots were found growing at the tips a 

 full month before there were any signs of growth above ground. Win- 

 ter irrigation for locations having climatic conditions similar to the 

 station is recommended. About 3 feet of water should be applied, 

 and if cover crops are grown in the orchard, 4 feet. 



FERTILIZING PEACH TREES. 



A number of the stations have investigated the fertilizer recjuire- 

 ments of the peach. At the New Jersey stations records were kept" 

 to determine the amount of plant food removed from the soil by a 

 peach tree, during ten years' growth. Each year the leaves were 

 saved from the tree and weighed and analyzed. All the prunings and 

 all the fruit were also weighed and analyzed. Finall}' the tree was 

 removed, roots carefully dug out, and the wood and roots analj'zed. 

 The total weight of the leaves and fruit for the ten years was 616 

 pounds, of which 2.85 pounds was nitrogen, 0.76 pound phosphoric 

 acid, and 1.69 pounds potash. On an acre basis, with the trees 16 

 by 15 feet apart, this would represent a withdrawal from the soil of 

 516 pounds of nitrogen, 138 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 307 

 pounds of potash. For the last six years of the life of the tree the 

 average plant constituents removed per acre was 64 pounds of 

 nitrogen, 18 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 40 pounds of potash. 



It is calculated that a crop of wheat averaging 20 bushels per acre 

 and 1} tons straw would remove 42 pounds nitrogen, 14 pounds phos- 

 phoric acid, and 20 pounds potash. In comparing these figures with 

 those of the peaches we see that the draft on the soil for plant food 

 for bearing peach trees is fully as great as that in the annual pro- 

 duction of wheat. It is believed that many of the ills of the orchard 

 that are laid to the work of insects and diseases are in a large meas- 

 ure due to the lack of cultivation and manuring. 



The same station also reports results of a ten-year fertilizer experi- 

 ment with peaches,'' as a result of which it is concluded that it will 

 pay to manure orchards on land that will yield 40 bushels of corn 

 per acre. The average yield of fruit per acre in such orchards without 

 fertilizers was 80 baskets per jesiT and with fertilizers 185 baskets. 

 Manures also prolonged the profitable bearing of the tree four or five 



a New Jersey Stas. Bui. 197. b New Jersey Stas. Rpt. 1894, p. 125. 



