CURRENT PUBLICATIONS IN RURAL ART. 519 
being easier to send 10,000 baskets of a dozen varieties to market dur- 
ing a season of six weeks than the same quantity of a single variety in 
a single week. Hach kind should be planted in a row by itself, the ear- 
liest next the entrance of the orchard, and progressively to the rear, 
planting the latest last. The planter can thus clear his orchard as he 
goes; the trees in front being relieved, the limbs will gradually regain 
their former position, and little or no fruit will be knocked off in gath- 
ering. The trees may be transplanted in the fall or spring with equal 
success.. In the fall first-class. trees are more readily obtained, as the 
nurseries have not then been culled nor the stock exhausted, as is often 
the case in the spring. The ground is generally in better order then, 
and it isa time of more icisure with the farmer. In fall planting itis best 
to leave a few branches toward the top of the stem, as a sort of shield 
from the frosts of winter. If planted in the spring, the trees should be 
trimmed close and smooth like a rod, every limb taken off, and the top 
cut down to a uniform height of about three feet. Those planted in the 
fall should be treated in the same way in the following spring, as early 
asthe weather will permit. In June, after planting, every limb and 
sucker should be eut off that is nearer than two and a half feet to the 
ground, as well as any straggling limbs that may have grown far beyond 
the general contour of the head. If this trimming is done judiciously 
and timely, the limbs that are left will grow strong and vigorous, the 
fyvood will ripen early, and the vitality of the tree be preserved. A 
height of three feet is a proper distance at which the head should be 
allowed to commence its form. At this height it will naturally strike 
upward at an acute angle with the stem, and thus allow room enough 
to cultivate around it with a mule or small horse. Many planters “ cut 
in” young trees annually, about one-half of each year’s growth, the 
same season or early next spring. When the sap reaches this point it 
is, of course, checked, and sends out new branches; thus more new 
bearing wood is produced, nearer the stem and nearer the ground. This 
does well in small orchards, but is hardly practicable in plantations of 
thousands of trees. Cutting in also invigorates and prolongs the life of 
the tree; the leaves will be greener, the young bearing wood more 
abundant, and the fruit larger and richer. 
A full crop of peaches, say a basket to a tree, may be expected the 
fourth year after planting. This is a full crop for trees of that age and 
size, and quite as much as they ought to bear. It is not- easy to 
account for the difference in production; something depends on variety, 
culture, &c. Some kinds, as Hale’s Harly, uniformly bear large crops, 
while others, as the Susquehanna, a fruit of great beauty and excel- 
lence, are uniformly light bearers. It is not generally desirable that 
trees should bear when very young, it weakens the tree, in diverting 
the vital forces from the formation of wood into the production of fruit, 
oftentimes giving the tree a lasting tendency to feebleness ; besides, at 
an early age neither the stem nor the branches are able to bear a load 
of fruit; they break down, and the tree is thus permanently injured, 
both in usefulness and beauty. 
The culture after a crop should be prompt, careful, and generous. As 
soon as the last peach is gathered the hogs should be turned in to eat 
up the refuse. They will fatten on the decayed and imperfect fruit, and 
multitudes of embryo insects will be destroyed. ‘They will root about 
the trees, which will do almost asmuch good as a plowing. Hf there 
are no hogs at hand, the refuse should be gathered up and removed; 
but this is too seldom done, the more common way being to leave ail 
on the ground, and run the risk. 
