406 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



upon the character of the season. A number ol' the experiment 

 stations have reported data on the blooming and ripening periods 

 of different varieties. " 



SELF-FERTILITY. 



In experiments at the Delaware Station '' in testing the self- 

 fertility of Old Mixon, Reeves, Elberta, Globe, Crawford Late, and 

 Fox peaches, the self-fertility of the blossoms was found to vary 

 between 70 and 88 per cent, the average being 81 per cent. These 

 fruits may therefore be planted in solid blocks without danger of 

 reducing the yield. Observations by F. W. Fletcher ' indicate 

 that the variety Susquehanna is self-sterile. In pollination exj^eri- 

 ments at the Oregon Station in a greenhouse '^ trees to which bees 

 were granted access, set a full crop of fruit, but those artificially 

 fertilized, only a part of a crop, and trees protected from bees and 

 not otherwise fertilized, set no fruit whatever. 



WINTER PROTECTION. 



In many localities where peaches can not be grown successfully 

 because of severe winter weather or late spring frosts which kill the 

 fruit buds, a method has grown up of laying the trees down upon the 

 approach of winter and keeping them })rotected until the following 

 spring, when danger from late frosts is past. This method of protec- 

 tion was tested by S. T. Maynard of the Massachusetts Station as 

 early as 1886. « 



With a fre(}uent winter temperature of —20° F. and destructive late 

 frosts in the spring, the Kansas Station states-'^ that peaches fail at 

 that station eight years out of ten. By cutting the roots on one side 

 of the tree and lionding it over and letting it rest on stakes, then cov- 

 ering with such material as poor hay, straw, brush, etc., until danger 

 from frost was past in the spring, full crops have been secunMl. In 

 one test the cost of putting down 71 trees in the fall, including labor 

 and hay, together with the expense of rcj)lucing them in the spring, 

 amounted to about 20 cents ])er tree. 



Attempts at this station to protect peach buds by shortening in 

 the head and tying evergreens around the outside, as well as filling in 

 the inside, resulted in failure. 



The Illinois Station also reports the successful culture of peaches 

 by laying them down.^' When the trees were planted, they were set 



oTexasSta. 15ul. .39; Missouri S(a. I'.iil. 10; New Mcxic<. Shi. I'.iil. :i(); Oivgon Sia. 

 Bui. 34. 



6 Delaware Sta. Kpl. l!M)i', j,. loo. Sec alsn Kj)!. |,S!I3, ]>. i:.0. 



•New York Cornell Sta. Bui. 181. 



d Oregon Sta. Bui. .34. 



«MassachusettH Ilatrh Sta. I'.uls. 10 and 17. 



/Kansa.s Sta. Bui. 14. 



f? Illinois Sta. Bui. 21. 



