EXPERIMENT STATION WORK WITH PEACHES. 415 



dwarfed in size and fruits earl}^ on sand cherr}' stock. The fruit 

 is fully up to the standard in size and quality. This stock is 

 especialh^ recommended b}' Hansen to those who grow peaches in 

 houses and for dwarfing purposes generally. E. S. Goff also reports 

 the successful use of the sand cherry as a stock for the peach "■ and 

 believes it may be especially useful for growing dwarf trees that 

 may be easily laid down winters as a means of winter protection. 

 He reports that at the end of the second ^^ear trees on this stock had 

 attained a height of about 5 feet, but this appears to be practically 

 the limit of height growth. 



LOCATION OF THE ORCHARD. 



Owing to the early blooming habit of the peach it is generally 

 recommended that it be planted on ratlier high ground to provide 

 good air drainage away from the trees. In this way many local 

 frosts are avoided. Planting on northern slopes or in the immediate 

 vicinit}" of large bodies of water also tends to delay blooming. 



In the reports on winter injury to peach trees a number of the 

 stations have noted that trees located in pockets where cold air 

 settled were usuallj^ the ones most seriously injured. At the Nebraska 

 Station R. A. Emerson reports '' that on high lands peaches at the 

 station have uniformly ripened up their wood much earlier in the 

 fall than those grown on low land and have come through the winter 

 in much better condition, and that frequently the trees on low lands 

 have been killed or greatly injured when those on high lands have 

 come through with only slight discoloration of the bark. 



SOILS. 



L. H. Bailey '^ reports that some of the best peach orchards he 

 has known have been located upon sandy lands so poor that they 

 were once thought to be worthless. In New York the peach orchards 

 which are giving the best returns are located on the warm sandy 

 lands along the Ontario shore. While peaches %\'ill thrive upon 

 heavier lands, often upon clay, they are rarely so productive upon 

 these heav}^ lands unless severely headed in. On heavy lands the 

 trees run more strongly to wood and often split down from the weight 

 of the foliage alone when disturbed by the wind. 



In the report on field operations of the Bureau of Soils of this 

 Department for 1901 ** it is noted that peaches were an important 

 crop on 9 per cent of the stony loam, 24 per cent of the sand, 55 per 



a Garden and Forest, 1896, p. 448. 



b Nebraska Sta. Bui. 79 and Pvpt. 1896, p. 109. 



c New York Cornell Sta. Bui. 74. 



dXJ. S. Dept. Agr., Field Operations Bureau of Soils 1901 (3d report). 



