98 THE KANSAS PEACH. 



his trees. Picks carefully by hand and packs in one-third-bushel crates. Sells 

 on commission mostly in Omaha: bring eighty cents to one dollar. Don't think 

 they would pay in quantity. 



J. C. Beckley, Spring Hill, Johnson county, thirty-one years in Kansas, 

 has only 125 peach trees: 25 of them are seedlings; they are from six to eight 

 years old, planted on mulatto soil: but he would prefer high top, level land, 

 with loose, dry soil, naturally well underdrained, and reasonably enriched with de- 

 cayed vegetable matter — such land as is well adapted to the growth of corn. 

 Would like some protection on the south side. He is growing Crosby's Early, 

 Elberta, Alexander, Crawford's Early and Late, Stump, Foster, and Heath 

 Cling; and has discarded Amsden, Hale's, Old Mixon Free and Cling, as they rot 

 so badly. Ward's Late dried up on the trees. He recommends Crosby's Early 

 and Alexander for early, Stump and Foster for medium, and Heath Cling, Globe 

 and Crawford's Late for late. Thinks it best not to have too many varieties. 

 He plants two-year-olds, twenty feet apart, pruning the tops about one-half and 

 the lacerated or damaged roots. He has of late years headed in bearing trees, 

 and likes it. Says curculio troubles his early freestones. Tried spraying, but 

 there was "too much rain." Says peach buds are killed, but his trees are not 

 hurt, "as they are protected on the north." As to diseases, he says: "For 

 several years the peach orchards of Kansas have been injured by the leaf -curl, 

 which is a fungous disease that is only present in spring when the weather is 

 cold and wet. As a result of the work of this fungus, the leaves become swollen, 

 puffed, and curled, and soon drop from the trees. If the attack is severe, much 

 of the fruit may also drop. The disease is quite wide-spread, and may appear at 

 any point where the climatic conditions for two or three weeks after the opening 

 of the buds are favorable to its development. Peach trees are also often at- 

 tacked by brown rot, scab, and black spot, which are also of a fungous nature, 

 and do great harm to the fruit. Owing to the fact that rot is most troublesome 

 in warm, muggy weather, at about the time the early varieties are ripening, it is 

 a difficult disease to control by spraying." He grows potatoes, sweet corn or 

 other crops that require thorough cultivation for three years; then sows to clover. 

 Never allows any live stock among them. He markets in boxes loosely, rejecting 

 "all such as I would not want to buy myself." Retails in home market, averag- 

 ing about one dollar per bushel; feeds all culls to the hogs. He continues: 

 "The condition of all fruit-trees is not very flattering; location and protection, I 

 think, have something to do with the varying condition of the trees. I have been 

 over Johnson county considerably in the last week, and I find in some places 

 fruit-trees are not hurt and in others they are partially damaged, and again in 

 others they are killed. Those killed are mostly three-year-old trees. On .some 

 the bark has been cracked. Peach buds all dead." 



C. 1>. Gai.ser, Lansing, Leavenworth county, has lived in Kansas forty-one 

 years ; has now 200 peach trees, planted from four to six years, on rich mellow loam 

 with clay subsoil; thinks it right. Don't care what slope. His varieties are 

 Elberta, Crosby, Stump, Old Mixon, Mountain Rose, and Hale. Plants one- 

 year-old trees, 12 x 20 feet, cutting back all branches to six inches, trimming the 

 roots some. His early freestone varieties are somewhat troubled with curculio. 

 He grows strawberries and clover among his trees, never allowing any live stock 

 among them. Has not yet harvested a full crop, but believes they would pay 

 if planted largely. 



