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THE PEACH IN THE NORTH. 



THE PEACH IN THE NORTH— HOW TO TRAIN IT. 



BY JOHN SAUL, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



It may appear out of place in me to submit any remarks on the peach, to cultivators in 

 this country, where this fruit is cultivated to such an unlimited extent. The best manner 

 of training this tree, is what I particularly wish to notice, conceiving it may be useful in 

 several of the northern states; though not required in the middle or southern states, from 

 the great ease and little care with which this delicious fruit can be grown in its bounteous 

 soil and fine climate. So freely does it grow, that it can be scarcely called cultivated. I 

 have been particularly struck with, 1st. The great extent to which they are cultivated. 

 2d. The little or no attention given in their cultivation. 3d. The immense mass of rub- 

 bish called peaches, which are poured into the markets. True, I have seen good fruit, but 

 good was the exception, and by no means the rule; the overwhelming majority, to say the 

 least, were very poor; and this in a soil and climate capable of producing as fine peaches 

 as any region on our globe. If we inquire more minutely into their culture, we shall pro- 

 bably find that the whole routine of culture, from the procuring of the stone to the gather- 

 ing of the fruit, have been equally bad. The stones probably are procured from any quar- 

 ter, never caring whether the " Yellows" are prevalent thereor not; spring arrives and in- 

 stead of being planted out at proper distances, they are sown by handfuls in drills, when 

 they are drawn up thick and crowded, the plants choking each other for want of air, and 

 without the proper amount of nourishment for their roots. How can they gain strength 

 or mature their wood under such treatment? The thing is impossible, and now in the first 

 start, in the very infancy of the tree, its constitution is tainted and broken. In those 

 drills they are sometimes budded — without being at any time transplanted, until they are 

 offered to the public, cheap, by the hundred or thousand, and how many persons are there 

 that will buy this cheap stuff rather than give a fair price for well cultivated trees. When 

 they have got them, do all prepare their ground and plant them properly? Alas! I fear 

 the contrary is more generally the case, as is too well known! Planted and growing, are 

 they regularly pruned, the fruit thinned, and every other attention given which the fruit 

 requires? If not, how can we expect the trees will go on, year after j'ear, bearing abun- 

 dantcrops; must we not rather expect that the trees will soon sink into feebleness, sick- 

 ness and premature decay. I have said the constitution is impaired, or destroyed, in its 

 nifancy, and if so, can it ever regain it? Will the child that has been broken down in in- 

 fancy for want of food and air, form the strongest and most athletic man? I think most 

 persons will answer in the negative. Precisely is it the same with the tree. The Lai'ch 

 is planted as a timber tree to the amount of many millions annually in the mountains of 

 England, Wales, and Scotland. Let us see how these plants are raised. One plan is, sow 

 the seed in beds where it is allowed to remain two years, when they are lifted and planted 

 out; this is a cheap method, but a very bad one, as when the plants have stood two years 

 they become thin and drawn; it has few fibres, but on the contrary a few long tapering 

 roots, which are generally injured when lifted, and when planted take a long time to re- 

 cover themselves; indeed many die from the check which they receive, so for one or two 

 consecutive seasons, the}' I'cquire the vacancies to be filled up. 



Another method is, after the plants have stood one or two years in the seed bed, to 

 plant them out in lines in the nursery, for a year or two, after which they are finally 

 pl.nited out where they are to remain; this is a better system than the first, thou 

 equal to the manner I shall now describe. Sow the seed thinl}', in light, well pr 



