72 Peach-Growing 



atmospheric conditions that induce high evaporation, plant- 

 ing in the spring as early as the soil can be put in suitable 

 condition and after the danger of hard freezes is past is to 

 ba advised. But in the middle and southern latitudes and 

 in regions generally where the winters are mild and where 

 the fall season is favorable for working the soil until late, 

 the planting of trees at that season of the year is generally 

 successful and by many is preferred to spring planting. 



The planting should be delayed until thoroughly well 

 and naturally ripened trees can be obtained, but before the 

 advent of really cold weather. In some of the milder parts 

 of the country, where the soil seldom freezes deep and 

 rarely remains frozen for more than a few days at a time, 

 peach trees are commonly planted at almost any time dur- 

 ing the winter, excepting possibly for a few weeks during 

 the coldest weather, when conditions are unfavorable for 

 working the soil. 



Kyle ^ states that in Texas peach trees may be planted 

 from the first of November until the middle of March, with 

 a preference for the month of December because of the soil 

 and climatic conditions that usually obtain then. 



Some peach-growing regions are virtually on the ^'border 

 line" between fall and spring planting. Whitten, who has 

 perhaps given this matter more experimental attention than 

 other investigators in this country, finds that in central 

 Missouri peach trees planted in the fall have made a better 

 growth the next season when the planting has been followed 

 by a favorable winter, but if followed by a severe winter, 

 the trees have dried out and winter-killed to some extent. 

 In southern Missouri, on the other hand, fall planting has 

 proven regularly to be preferable. 



1 Tex. Exp. Sta. Bull. 80, p. 10. 



