120 THE KANSAS PEACH. 



trees; wood is perfectly healthy and sound to the tip ends. Severe cold seems 

 not to have affected them in the least. Fruit-buds were, however, all killed. 

 Never saw peaches cooked on sunny side of tree. Never trcfubled with curculio 

 or other insects, excepting grasshoppers, and they are easily kept off. No diseases 

 whatever: health of the trees of the best. Says if yellows appeared he would 

 dig and burn everj' affected tree, and for curl he would spray. Grows corn and 

 vegtables among the trees, and jjrohibits live stock among them. He irrigates 

 by open ditches, flooding the entire surface when necessary. Could not other- 

 wise succeed satisfactorily. Picks while still firm into cloth-lined baskets, and 

 always ships in third-bushel crates, pressing them in firmly with the hands, 

 rejecting all soft, overripe or small ones. Shipping to Denver, Colo., after 

 supplying a limited home market; selling on commi.ssion and realizing from 

 fifty cents to one dollar per third-bushel crate. Thinks crop too uncertain to 

 advise any one trying it largely in Kearny county. By careful cultivation and 

 irrigation his culls are too few to notice. He further says: "As to the peach in 

 this portion of Kansas, the tree is perfectly healthy and I believe long-lived; no 

 insects or diseases seem to trouble it; but its fruiting is very uncertain. Severe 

 cold like the past winter will invariably kill the buds; again, in mild winters a 

 warm spell in February is liable to start the buds and place them in such condi- 

 tion that a light freeze or frost, later on, will get them. While we get a few 

 peaches most any and every season, we cannot safely count on a full crop to ex- 

 ceed one year in every five, making them a very unsatisfactory crop to grow for 

 profit. However, I would advise the planting of a few trees, enough for family 

 use; further than this I do not think it wise to plant. It is claimed by some that 

 the seedlings are more hardy and certain to bear than the budded fruit ; such may 

 be true; I don't know; but I do know that I would not plant seedlings for mar- 

 ket purposes; there is no profit in them, even with a full crop every year; they as 

 %. rule are too small and uneven in size and will not bring price above cost of 

 handling them." 



John H. Goscli, Norwich, Kingman county, has lived in Kansas twenty 

 years; has grown a good many peaches for home use, and finds that choice, fine 

 varieties will do very well in his locality, unless two or three years of drought fol- 

 low each other. No one there grows peaches for market. He plants nothing 

 among his trees, and cultivates well. 



T>. E. Winters, Haviland, Kiowa county, has 5000 seedlings, mainly of good 

 quality and fine size. He also grows some Crawfords, and recommends Crawford 

 and Alexander for market, with Yellow Cling for family. He sets three-year-old 

 trees, 16x24 feet apart. Believes sandy land the best; north slope preferred. 

 Has a red-cheeked peach which ripens in June. Says all buds and many trees 

 were killed by the extreme cold of February, 1899. Troubled with no insects but 

 borers: knows no diseases. Grows no crop but "sand-burs" among his trees. 

 Finds ready sale for all good ones, in boxes, baskets, or wagon loads, at from 

 20 cents to §1.25 per bushel, rejecting only those gnawed by grasshoppers or 

 wilted. Says early peaches would pay well if planted largely there. 



Jacob Graves, Healy, Lane county, has 105 peach trees 9 to 14 years old; 

 75 are seedlings, 65 of these being of fine size and quality. His land is a sandy 

 loam; he would prefer coarse sand. He has Alexander, Amsden, Early Craw- 

 ford, Arkansas Traveler, and Elberta. Sets one-year-old trees, 9x16 feet, pruned 

 back one-half, and roots smoothed off some. Cold of February killed about one- 



