CULTURE OF PEACH ORCHARDS. 



37 



when, in the fall and following spring, they are 

 really for transplanting or sale. 



The mode of preparing the ground for them is 

 precisely that with us of the Indian corn crop; the 

 earth is well plowed, and from thirty to forty 

 bushels of lime is spread upon it to the acre. The 

 trees of like kinds (for the convenience of picking) 

 are then set out in rows at distances varying from 

 twenty to thirty feet apart, according to the strength 

 of the soil; a crop of corn is then put in and culti- 

 vated in the usual way, and this is done success- 

 ively for three years; by this time the trees begin 

 to bear. The cultivation of the corn being the 

 proper tillage for the trees, and this crop amply 

 paying for all investment in trees, &.C. 



Afier the trees commence bearing, no other crop 

 of any kind should ever be grown amongst them, 

 as I have known two rows of potatoes between a 

 row of peach trees not only to affect the fruit, but 

 seriously injure the trees; but they should be regu- 

 larly plowed some three or four times in the sea- 

 son, just as if the corn crop was continued. So 

 obnoxious in our country, is the peach tree to the 

 wo;m or borer — the Egeria exiiiosa — that each 

 nee in the orchard shoukl be examined twice a 

 year, summer and fall — say in June and October — 

 by removing the earth down to the roots, and kill- 

 ing, with a pruning knife, every intruiler — then 

 scraping the injured bark and removing the gum. 

 Tims exposed, they should be left for a few days, 

 when the earth should again be replaced with a 

 hoe. The limbs should be only moderately pruned, 

 or thinned out, so as to admit the sun and air, 

 avoiding in the operation leaving forks, which in- 

 cline them to split when burthened with fruit. 

 When the peaches ripen, the}' should be carefully 

 picked from step ladders, seven to eight feet high, 

 into small hand baskets, holding one peck each. 

 Our operators for tliis purpose are both men and 

 women, who earn from fifty to seventy-five cents 

 a lia}-, besiiles being found. These baskets are 

 gently emptied into the regular market baskets, 

 which are all marked with the owner's name, and 

 strewed along the whole line of orchard to be 

 pickeil. As these are filled they are put into 

 spring wagons, holding from thirty to sixty bas- 

 kets, and taken to the wharf, or landing, where 

 there is a house, shed, or awning, for the purpose 

 of assorting them, each kind by itself, which is into 

 prime and cullings — the prime being distinguished 

 not only by their size and selection, but also by a 

 handful of peach leaves scattered through the top. 

 They are then put aboard the boats in tiers, separa- 

 ted by boards between, to keep them from injury, 

 and so reach their destined market. We consiiler 

 a water communication from the orchards, or as 

 near as ma)' be, most essential, as all land carriage 

 more or less bruises or destroys the fruit. Our 

 roads through the orchards and to the landings are 

 all kept plowed and harrowed down smooth and 

 even. The baskets for marketing the peaches are 

 generally obtained in New-Jersey, at from twenty- 

 five to thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents per hun- 

 dred. 



With trifling modifications our culture and prac- 

 tice may be made to suit not only the southern but 

 the south-western states. I may here, perhaps, 



properly remark that the average life of our trees 

 is from nine to twelve years, when properly careil 

 for and protected, as I have described — that the 

 two great and devastating enemies, the trees have 

 to contend against, are the "peach worm" and the 

 " yellows ;" the first readily yielding to the knife 

 and the treatment of semi-annual examination; the 

 ]a.itev being a. constitutional , consumptivey ov rna- 

 rasmatic disease, for which no other remedy is as 

 yet known or to be practised, but extirpation and 

 destruction. There are 7nany theories and some 

 practice recorded on this, by far the most destruc- 

 tive enemy of the peach tree. I may hereafter 

 give my own views on this particular and obscure 

 ilisease. I concur, however, with ?.Ir. Downing, 

 of Newburgh, that the great and prevailing disposi- 

 tion of the peach tree in our climate, is to over- 

 production of fruit in favorable seasons. Our reme- 

 dy for this is to carefully thin it off by plucking 

 all those that touch, or are within two or three 

 inches of each other, when the size of hickory 

 nuts, which are thrown into some running stream, 

 or into the hog-pens to be devoured. His mode of 

 " heading in," or pruning one-half of the produ- 

 cing buds is new to me, but which I have just 

 tried upon my garden trees in the city, and will 

 be able to speak of experimentally hereafter. 



With us in Delaware, as every where else, the 

 peach tree succeeds best in a good soil- That pre- 

 ferred is a rich sandy loam, with clay. Many of 

 my finest trees and choicest fruits are grown in a 

 loose and stony soil. The trees should never be 

 set out in wet, low, or springy situations, and for 

 the same reasons, high and rolling ground should 

 be selected for your plantations, and for the adtli- 

 tional circumstance that they are less obnoxious to 

 early frosts. I have no doubt of their full success 

 upon such grounds as I visited upon the " Falls 

 plantation " of Mr. Marx, near your city, the es- 

 tates and high grounds of Mr. Richard Sampson, 

 and such as I saw at Pikonokee, Tuckahoe, and 

 upon other similar sites on the James ami Chicka- 

 hominy rivers. 



I may further remark, for the benefit of those 

 desirous to pay some attention to the cultivation 

 of peaches, (and u-ho should not be ?) that conside. 

 rable additions of new and valuable varieties, 7ia- 

 tive as well as foreign, are annually being made 

 to those already known among us — many of them 

 very fine. I have now several hundred raised 

 from pits, imported for me by N. Frazier, Esq., 

 of Philadelphia, Consul at Buenos Ayres, and long 

 a resident merchant in that city, many of which 

 will bear this year and next. To Mr. Sayres, of 

 Sparta, Georgia, I am also indebted for a full sam- 

 ple of the native Georgia varieties, as well as to 

 some other gentlemen in different states — all of 

 which I mean to test and bring into notice, if of 

 sufficient value. Whilst in tie vicinity of Rich- 

 mond, Norfolk, FredericksDurgh, Petershuigh, 

 Winchester, and other large towns of Virginia, the 

 peach tree may be cultivated with profit for the 

 market, and all over the slate, for the purpose of 

 drying, every farmer and owner of a lot maj- raise 

 them in abundance for liis own use. 



Yours, &.C., J.\.MES \V. THO.v.rJoN. 



Wilmington, March 26, 1846 



