l8 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



Newspaper is a famous non-conductor of heat, as 

 everyone knows who has ever buttoned a paper un- 

 der his coat to save him on a cold ride. A modern 

 Sunday paper furnishes material enough to cover 

 several trees four layers deep. The colored "art" 

 supplement is especially recommended for weak and 

 diseased trees. A certain farmer told me that he 

 always used Republican papers on his trees, but he 

 did not state that this was because of their superior 

 insulating properties. 



A more elaborate method of protecting peach trees 

 in that geographical zone where they are liable to 

 winterkilling, consists in laying them down upon 

 the ground and covering them there. The writer 

 has seen this method practiced with entire success — 

 with such success, in fact, as to make it a profitable 

 commercial transaction. With this method in view 

 the trees should be headed low and should be main- 

 tained with small bushy heads, but not too thick. 

 The laying down should be practiced every year, be- 

 ginning with the third or fourth winter. 



The method is as follows : Just before the ground 

 freezes a trench is dug about 5 feet long and 18 

 inches deep along the south side of the tree and 3 

 feet distant from the base of the stem. A similar 

 trench is dug parallel with the first and running 

 along the north side of the tree. The roots encoun- 

 tered in digging these trenches, especially the north- 

 ern trench, are cut off with the ax. The tree is then 

 pulled over to the southward until it lies practi- 

 cally flat on the ground. It is pinned in this posi- 

 tion by two or three forked pegs carefully driven 

 over the main branches. The entire top is then cov- 

 ered with any good material which happens to be at 

 hand. The best of all material, wherever it is avail- 

 able, is evergreen boughs. In sections where a rea- 



