152 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



the raffia is wound smoothly upward covering everything but the " eye " 

 and is tied in a single square knot. This winding must be tight to hold the 

 bud immovably in place. In from two to four weeks, depending on the 

 growth of the stock, the raffia should be cut to prevent its girdling the 

 tree. 



In the nursery trade, peach-trees are graded according to caliper or 

 according to height — rarely both since there is a very definite relation 

 between the two. The common sizes by caliper, or diameter of the trunk, 

 are five-, seven- or nine-sixteenths of an inch. According to height, the 

 grades are " three to four foot," " four to five foot," or " five to seven foot." 

 The medium-sized grade is usually the best since fewer trees die in trans- 

 planting, they are much easier to handle and, more important, provide a 

 better opportunity for the grower to form the head as he wants it. The 

 smallest grade often has many stunted trees. A first-class tree is free from 

 insects and fungi or the effects of either. Other things being equal, a short, 

 stocky tree is better than a tall, spindling one; one with many branches 

 better than one with few. The best stamp on a peach-tree, however, is 

 a well-developed root-system — many -branched, well-distributed, fibrous, 

 fresh roots. Practically all peach-trees in New York are dug in the fall 

 and kept in storage through the winter. 



THE PEACH-ORCHARD AND ITS CARE 



The peach-orchard is the consummation of modern fruit-growing. 

 It is more than a plantation of peach-trees, for it personifies ideals and 

 reflects the personality of the owner. A glance at a peach-orchard and 

 one knows whether the proprietor is lazy or industrious, slovenly or orderly, 

 procrastinating or prompt. An orchard of dingy, unhappy peach-trees is 

 an odious sight in the eyes of a good fruit-grower accustomed to nurturing 

 and fondling his own trees. Tenants seldom succeed in peach-growing. 

 Here is a case in which Cato, the sturdy old Roman farmer, is surely right : 

 " The face of the master is good for the land." The peach in our climate 

 is least able of all fruits to subsist without the aid of man The best trees 

 in the best soil, if neglected, have a short, miserable and profitless existence. 

 These considerations, then, must bring us to the conclusion that growing 

 peaches differs somewhat from growing other fruits. If not more difficult 

 it is at least a finer and more delicate affair in which the laborer and crafts- 

 man working by rule give way to men of higher degree who put thought, 

 intelligence and taste into their work. 



