102 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



THINNING. 



This is very important with the peach. There is no fruit grown in this 

 State that the people are more interested in than the peach. Why is it? 

 It is its delicious flavor that everyone likes, so it should be the aim of the 

 fruit grower to obtain this in its highest state and this cannot be with an 

 overloaded tree; there is no fruit it pays so well to thoroughly thin as the 

 peach. When the fruit is regularly set all over the tree it should be 

 thinned to six inches and in some sorts eight is better. 



CULTIVATION, 



Cultivation in bearing orchards should be kept up, especially in dry 

 seasons, as near to the harvesting of the fruit as possible, going over the 

 orchard with a fine tooth harrow or weeder as often as once a week if 

 possible, keeping a fine dust mulch on the surface to prevent the escape of 

 moisture below. 



FERTILIZERS. 



This is a subject that is now attracting considerable attention in 

 order to get growth and production, but I have given it much thought 

 and study for many years for results in another direction, and that is, 

 quality or flavor, beauty and firmness. I claim I can ship the same variety 

 of peaches hundreds of miles further and have it arrive in good condition, 

 where the soil has plenty of potash, than fruit grown on soils deficient 

 in this element, and this is also true with the strawberrj^, this same ele- 

 ment produces the highest flavor and beauty ; so I use hardwood ashes as 

 my main fertilizer, using just enough barnyard manure to keep up the 

 proper growth of the tree. 



MARKETING. 



This is the one important thing in peach growing and the one hardest 

 for the average peach grower to learn. 



Discussion by R. D. Graham, Grand Rapids, on "Peaches and How to 

 Grow Them." 



Nine-tenths of the peaches grown in Michigan are grown by farmers 

 who make no pretense of being horticulturists, yet Michigan peaches are 

 the best grown. Peaches grow best on thin-surfaced land with a hard 

 subsoil about Grand Rapids. The selection of varieties is largely a local 

 question. Wood ashes are the best fertilizer for the peach orchard, all 

 things considered. If you adopt any one method do it thoroughly. 

 Almost any good method can be used with profit if it is thoroughly 

 adhered to. 



