EXPERIMENT STATION WORK WITH PEACHES. 433 



It is difRcult to tell by the examination of fruit trees the extent 

 of ^nj winter injury. Trees which, examined in the winter, seem 

 to be dead beyond doubt frequenth^ recover. The best treatment 

 for old trees appears to be medium pruning — cutting back the limbs 

 into 2 or 3 year-old wood. Much more severe pruning may be 

 practiced with ^^oung trees than with old ones. Good cultivation 

 and light fertilizing should follow to help the trees overcome the 

 mjury. 



The peach normally should be pruned back each spring from one- 

 half to two-thirds of the previous season's growth, otherwise trees 

 with bearinor wood far out on the ends of the branches and naked 

 trunks below will be produced. When the fruit buds are winter- 

 killed, advantage should be taken to prune more severely in order 

 to keep the tree in a compact form, with the fruiting wood near the 

 ground. Old trees ma}" be rejuvenated by severely pruning back 

 part of the limbs each jesLV. 



Seedling peach trees are best for nursery stock. Sand cherry 

 (Prunus hesseyi) is a good dwarfing stock. On alkali soils plum 

 stocks appear to give better results than peach stock. 



In transplanting nursery stock to the orchard the roots may be 

 profitably pruned back from 5 to 8 inches in length and the trunks 

 left from 1 6 to 24 inches long. 



The peach orchard should be so treated that the wood and buds 

 will be thorough!}' dormant when winter sets in. Cover crops other 

 than the legumes planted in midsummer seemed to favor early ripen- 

 ing of the wood. In dry regions the cover crop should be one that 

 will stand up during the winter, catch and hold the snow, and also 

 be killed by the first fall frosts so that all the moisture of the soil 

 may be left for the use of the tree during the winter. 



Trees on high land appear to ripen up earlier than those on low 

 ground. 



Winter irrigation seems to be a desirable practice in some of the 

 more arid Western States. 



Peaches require as heavy fertilizing as wheat. They may be prof- 

 itably fertilized when planted on land that would normally yield 40 

 bushels of corn per acre. The profitable bearing age of the orchard 

 may be prolonged several years by the use of fertilizers. Peaches 

 draw specially heavy on the nitrogen and potash of the soil. 



Thinning peaches is a desirable commercial practice in seasons 

 of great abundance. It should follow thorough cultivation, manur- 

 ing, and spraying. The benefits arise primarily from the larger 

 amount of fancy and first-class fruit. Thinned trees appear also 

 to develop more fruit buds than unthinned. Much of the thinning 

 can be done by spring pruning, either before or after the fruit is set. 



294b— 07 28 



