44 THE KANSAS PKACH. 



lutely necessary if you want the best of fruit. It can only be properly 

 done by hand, and as the peaches must at some time be hand-picked, 

 there is a gain in time and labor by doing it while they are small ; 

 say from the time they are as large as beans to the size of robin's 

 eggs. When done, the remaining peaches should be about four 

 inches apart ; even then many branches will break. 



Peaches are heavy, and get heavier every day, and, if a storm wets 

 the fruit and the foliage, the limbs will droop, and a sharp wind will 

 cause them to break. A few props with forked tojDS may be kept 

 handy, and they will often be found useful in saving a limb and fruit 

 at a time when you cannot spare a moment to go to the timber for 

 them. You cannot have too many such props at hand. 



The nearer market peaches are grown the more profitable they are, 

 as the bruising of cartage is avoided, as are also delays ; twenty-four 

 hours often makes many dollars difference in the results. Early 

 peaches are generally poor peaches; they are unfit for canning, pre- 

 serving, or drying ; they have only earliness to recommend them, and 

 they must compete with blackberries, early apples, and melons. 



The curculio troubles them far the most, and consumers soon tire 

 of their insipidity. Still, American impatience demands fruits and 

 vegetables ahead of their season, and often despises the better article 

 when it becomes plentiful. As the lady w^ho put fine apples and pota- 

 toes in her cellar in the autumn, and told her maid to always use 

 the specked and decaying ones first, found that she lived the entire 

 winter on specked and decaying apples and potatoes, so Betsy Bullion, 

 who demands the' earliest fruits and berries that come to market and 

 despises them when Johnny Coalhauler and Maggie Scrubbart can 

 have plenty, will find that she is always living upon the poorest fruits 

 and vegetables in the market. 



Mr. Roland Morrill, of Benton Harbor, Mich., is one of our most 

 careful and successful peach growers, and gives his orchard constant 

 and careful attention. His success is phenomenal. In 1899, when 

 peaches were generally scarce and many trees dead from extreme cold, 

 Mr. Morrill grew bushels of extraordinary peaches, four to four and 

 one-half inches in diameter, and his sales were often for more than 

 seven dollars per bushel net. I examined the original sales account. 



Following we give an interview from the Westerti Fruit-groiver, 

 of St. Joseph, Mo., written by R. M. Kellogg, of Three Rivers, Mich.: 



BIG PEACHES AND BERRIES. 



When Roland Morrill speaks on matters pertaining to farming or 

 fruit-growing, everybody in Michigan gives the closest attention. 

 The agricultural college has officially declared him a "Master in Hor- 

 ticulture,"' and for the past six years he has been president of the 



