134 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



an exotic from warm and sunlit Mid-Asia. Yet with a little help from man 

 the peach takes kindly to many climates in which it does not grow spon- 

 taneously. Under what climatic conditions does the peach grow spon- 

 taneously? And under what climatic conditions can the peach be grown 

 with the aid of man as a commercial success? These questions can be best 

 answered by discussing the two constituents of climate, temperature and 

 rainfall, in relation to the peach. 



Of the several phases of temperature only extremes in cold are deter- 

 minants in peach-growing in New York. The peach stands for all that is 

 tender and effeminate in a fruit-tree and fares so ill in winter's cold that the 

 limits of peach-culture are set in all northern states by the winter climate. 

 The undomesticated peach is at the mercy of the winter wherever the 

 temperature falls below zero and seldom grows spontaneously where the 

 mercury drops even to this point. By selecting hardy varieties and follow- 

 ing careful cultural methods, however, peaches may be grown profitably 

 in climates where it is occasionally as cold as ten degrees below zero. An 

 isothermal line passing through points in New York where the thermometer 

 marks — io° in an occasional winter sets the limits of peach-growing in 

 New York. The red line in the accompanying map shows the territorv* 

 in which peach-growing is reasonably safe in New York while the green 

 line shows the outside limits of the industry as determined by cold. 



Even in the favored peach-regions of New York, winter-injury is 

 a matter of vital importance to the peach-industry and growers seek means 

 to avoid or check it. The problem is not an insurmountable one, for here 

 and there are orchards and varieties which siiffer little injury though 

 possibly adjoining others in which trees or buds are wholly or partially 

 killed. There must be reasons for the injury in the one and not in the 

 other. These, the New York Agricultural Experiment Station made an 

 attempt to discover a few years ago in letters addressed to the peach- 

 growers of the State.' From the information received, and that gained 

 by observation, we may lay down the following propositions regarding 

 hardiness of the peach in New York. 



First. — The soil has much influence on hardiness. The peach must 

 have a warm, dry soil to secure the hardiness inherent in the species. Only 

 in such a soil can trees make a strong, firm, well-matured growth, which is 

 conducive to hardiness. Bottom-heat seems especially necessary to secure 



' For a full report of this investigation see the Report of the New York State Fruit-Growers Associa- 

 tion 180-187. 1908. 



