374 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



no time to mature the crop and i)repare the bnds for the following 

 year. Thiuning the fruit shoula be done after the June drop. 



The peach hover can easily be controlled by removing the soil from 

 around the trunk, and extract the boiers with pocket-knife or some 

 pointed iron. The peach borer does not' cut wood like the apple, 

 but feeds on the Cambium layer, and if taken before he gets down 

 in the roots, can be easily destroyed. 



Spraying for scale and fungus diseases must be carefully and 

 thoroughly done in early spring, before the blossoms open. Lime 

 and sulphur is the most satisfactory material, known at the present 

 time, for both the scale and fungi. 



In my 28 years' experience as a peach grower I have yet to 

 learn what crop to grow in a bearing peach orchard that is not 

 grown at the expense of the peach crop. Frequently I am asked 

 what crop can be grown in a peach orchard, when bearing; and my 

 answer is always a peach crop. The disease known as "Yellows," 

 among peach trees is first noticed in the premature ripening of the 

 fruit. 



Then follows the wiry growth on branches generally in clusters, 

 with very narrow foliage. The word "Yellows" does not indicate 

 that a tree with yellow leaves has taken this disease, as a tree 

 may not have proper nourishment or may be attacked by borers 

 which cause the foliage to turn yellow; and such trees will respond 

 very readily if proper treatment is given. 



And again, a tree with the most vigorous foliage, dark green, 

 may premature its fruit and fully develope the disease. The only 

 way I know to hold this disease in check is to remove the tree and 

 burn on the spot. ' 



It was frequently stated a few years ago that the peach business 

 would fall in the hands of specialists, and I really believed it myself, 

 but I have changed my mind. Since the San Jose scale has made 

 its appearance in sufficient numbers to destroy those orx-hards planted 

 by the negligent fellows, they are not in business. Only the stand- 

 pat fellows are in the peach business to-day, and they are here to 

 stay. The syndicate or incorporated orchard companies must learn 

 that they are carrying on their business with disinterested help, and 

 to have thousands of acres of orchards will necessitate them spread- 

 ing labor over too large an acreage and the result is slighted work 

 going orr all the time. 



The fruit business is different from factory work — where one fore- 

 man can stand over hundreds of hands and control them sucess- 

 fully. The biggest mistake I ever made was when I increased my 

 peach business until at one time I had between 43 and 44 thousand 

 trees in cultivation and it was impossible for me to have the fruit 

 picked and packed in proper shape ; and T found that I had to reduce 

 my acreage in order to have the fruit right for the consumers. 



You see, someone had told me to be sure that I was right and 

 then go ahead; well, I started to grow more peaches to get more 

 money to buy more land to plant more trees to get more money 

 to buy more land to grow more peaches; and that is the way I got 

 into the business so extensively. My neighbors who had only small 

 orchards had finer fruit than mine. Y^ou see, I Avanted to be one 

 of those specialists, but I soon discovered that the old saying that 



