EXPERIMENT STATION WORK WITH PEACHES. 423 



The Connecticut State Station has been carrying on fertilizer experi- 

 ments with peaches for more than ten years, and the data are amiii- 

 ally given in the reports of the station,'' but it is not yet thought 

 safe to draw conchisions from this work. The Delaware Station also 

 reports an experiment '' in which the use of potash and phosphoric 

 acid, either alone or combined, exercised no effect on the new gi-owth 

 of wood, while nitrogen, either alone or combined, increased the new 

 growth in length fully 33 per cent. On another farm potash had no 

 effect, while nitrogen increased the length of the new growth 6 per 

 cent, and phosphoric acid alone 12 per cent. 



At the West Virginia Station ^ the results of cooperative fertilizer 

 tests indicate that on Romney shales a complete fertilizer compounded 

 in the proportion of 60 to 80 ounces of dissolved boneblack, 20 to 

 30 ounces muriate of potash, 20 to 30 ounces nitrate of soda, and 

 applied at the rate of 4 to 5 pounds to the tree for the first five 

 years of growth in the orchard is likely to give ver}^ satisfactory 

 results. The use of potash alone at the rate of 1 or 2 pounds per 

 tree did little or no good, while the use of more than 2 pounds per 

 tree killed trees in some instances. Light applications of potash com- 

 bined with acid phosphate produced highly colored fruit. Thomas 

 slag gave no better results than South Carolina rock. 



At the New Jersey stations trees subject to an occasional overflow 

 of salt water were not less subject to yellows than those not over- 

 flowed. '^ It was noted, liowever, that when the trees had been over- 

 flowed with salt water occasionally for a few hours at a time in the 

 early spring they made a more vigorous healthy growth than those 

 on the highland, but the fi"uit was less highly colored and there was no 

 increase in the crop. 



THINNING PEACHES. 



According to a bulletin from the Maryland Station,'^ thinning 

 increases the vitality of the tree by lessening the production of seed, 

 tends to cause the tree to bear crops more regularly, lessens the loss 

 occasioned by rot and other fungus diseases of fruit by eliminating 

 the danger of infection by contact, causes larger and better colored 

 fruit which can ripen up more uniformly, produces a more salable 

 and higher priced fruit, preserves the shape of the tree, and prevents 

 the breaking of overloaded branches. 



The Delaware Station ■'^ reports the results of thimiing peaches 4, 

 6, and 8 inches apart. The largest percentage of fancy fruits and 

 firsts was secured by thinning from 6 to 8 inches apart. Trees thus 



a Connecticut Sta. Rpt. 1904, p. 444. d New Jersey Stas. Rpt. ]885, p. 152. 



b Delaware Sta. Bui. 11; Rpt. 1893, p. 13. e Maryland Sta. Bui. 82. 



c West Virginia Sta. Bui., 82. /Delaware Sta. Rpt. 1902, p. 94. 



