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26 
growth. This can only be secured by a soil that is moderately productive and somewhat 
porous in itsnature. On such a soil clover sod plowed under in the autumn or early 
spring and well fitted for corn will be in good condition for planting peach trees. ; 
The trees may be plamted 16, 18, or 20 ft. apart each way. If the land is strong 
20 ft. is not too far, as the trees become more spreading and do not grow so high. With 
peach trees corn should be planted for two years with good cultivation. After this rye 
or buckwheat may be sowed and plowed under to good advantage. Cultivation should 
continue year after year as thoroughly as for a crop of corn. Peach trees will not bear 
neglect and give good results. During every dry season cultivation should be continued 
until the middle or last of August. After the trees begin to bear fruit, fertilisers may 
be used to good advantage on any soil, and on al] light or thin soils they are a necessity. 
The tree that bears good fruit must be fed or it can not feed others. The best varieties 
for these isolated orchards are doubtless the old standard sorts that have been tested in 
all parts of the country. With these some new ones are coming to the front to make the 
list about as follows for continuous ripening :—Lewis’ Seedling, Crane’s Yellow, Early 
Barnard, Jacque’s Rare Ripe, Hill’s Chili and Smock. Some other varieties we think 
equally good, but this list is long enough for a beginner. Before planting a peach tree 
it should be trimmed to a whip and cut back to 3 or 4 feet in length. In trimming cut 
the limbs about one-half inch from the body of the tree so that buds hidden there may 
not be injured. During the summer after planting superfluous sprouts may be taken off 
or pinched back from time to time as they appear. In this way trees become shapely 
without severe pruning. The cultivation of a peach orchard is never complete, unless a 
thorough search for borers is made once or twice a year. 
When the fruit sets full it should be thinned out by hand picking, This work can 
begin on the early varieties, when the fruit is about like your finger ends, and continued 
on the later varieties until all have been gone over. When the fruit sets uniformly over 
the tree it should be thinned out to 3 or 4 inches apart on every limb. Good results can 
not otherwise be secured. 
When the crop is abundant great care must be exercised in marketing in order to 
secure good results, Peaches are always of better quality when ripened on the tree. and 
the nearer they can be brought to this condition before they are picked for market the 
more they will be appreciated by the purchaser. These small orchards, scattered over 
the country, as good locations offer, will commonly find their most remunerative market 
near at home. If the price is low in these markets at first it can be reached without 
middle men, and as the well ripened fruit is presented year after year it will be more 
and more desired by all who see it. For the home market peaches may remain on the 
tree until they are well ripened, but for long shipments no soft specimens should go into 
the package. Peaches should be handled about as carefully as you would handle eggs. 
Pouring them from one basket or box into another, as you would potatoes or even apples, 
is highly injurious, even if the injury is at first invisible. It is therefore desirable to 
pack them for market where they are grown. Pecks, halves and bushels may be used to 
advantage in this traftic according to the kind of market and quality of fruit you wish to 
put upon it. 
With this brief outline we think no one will be at a loss to improve his oppor- 
tunities for peach culture in a way that will be healthful to the digestive organs of his | 
customers and remunerative to his own purse. 
The net results of peach culture in any locality are variable to av extent that can 
not easily be defined. The estimate may be made by the tree, or the acre, or the orchard, 
and in any case be misleading as to the results during a series of years. If a tree five 
years old produces one bushel of marketable fruit, which would be a reasonable estimate, 
we still have the wide variation of prices that come from an abundant or short crop, 
The actual results therefore are similar to other branches of horticulture and husbandry ; 
sometimes good and sometimes not so good, but where Nature serves the kindly turn of a 
congenial climate the careful and judicious cultivator of peaches seldom fails of a suitable 
reward for his labor. The most favored localities are not richly rewarded every year, but 
wherever the trees and buds can endure the climate there is always great encouragement 
to plant the trees and gather the fruit. . 
