3/6 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



GROWING PEACHES ON THE PRAIRIE. 



HENRY DUNSMORE, OLIVIA. 



Although we can hardly say Minnesota is in the peach belt, yet 

 there are some fruits grown in the state that are raised with less 

 pleasure and profit to the grower than the hardiest peaches. About 

 eight years ago I planted twelve peach trees, four each of Elberta, 

 Champion and Bokhara No. 3. All of them made a very good 

 growth the first two years. The third winter killed two Champion 

 and three Elberta. 



In 1900 I built a new residence and in the rush the peach trees 

 were left entirely without protection all winter. The Bokhara came 

 through the winter without serious injury, only the tops of the new 

 wood being blackened, and they bore a few peaches the following 

 season. The Elberta and Champion were killed to the ground and, 

 I might say, below the ground, for the roots were killed also, thus 

 proving to my satisfaction at least that the Bokhara could stand a 

 lower temperature then either Champion or Elberta. 



The past season my trees bore a good crop of peaches ranging 

 in size from one and a half to two inches in diameter. From three 

 trees I gathered about three bushels of fruit, making my third crop 

 in succession. 



The peach can stand a lower temperature than is generally sup- 

 posed, provided it is in a sheltered location ; but if exposed to the 

 full blast of the northwest wind an ordinary winter would probably 

 finish it. The peach buds cannot stand an extremely low tem- 

 perature, like the apple and plum, yet, strange as it may seem, 

 when the blooming period arrives they seem to change places in the 

 classification of hardiness. From observations during the past four 

 years, I have noticed that the peach blossom in the same stage of 

 development can stand a lower temperature than the plum. In 1902 

 a great many of the plum blossoms were injured by too much rain 

 and frost, while the peach blossoms showed no injury. I speak of 

 one variety of the peach only, Bokhara No. 3. 



I have grown a number of peach trees on native plum roots, and 

 think this makes the most desirable tree for Minnesota. They 

 should be grafted and not budded, for the same reason that it is 

 desirable to have the apple on hardy roots. When grown in this 

 form if the treetop should be killed by severe freezing the chances 

 are that the following spring it would send up a shoot from above 

 the graft and would form fruit-buds the same season. The trees 

 when small can be laid down for winter much easier than when 

 grown on the large, ash-like roots of the peach. 



