126 THE KANSAS PEACH. 



when it commences to ripen. Grows no crop and allows no live stock among his 

 trees. Sells only locally. Believes they would pay planted largely, if rot could 

 be prevented. Mr. Pancoast further says: "I have some very fine quality seed- 

 ling peaches, no two alike, both cling and free, all raised from seed of same tree, 

 viz.. Stump the World, maturing from August to October 15. 



C. »J. Norton, Morantown, Allen county, has long been an active Kansas 

 horticulturist. He has 125 peach trees, most of them ten years of age. One 

 hundred of these are seedlings of fine quality and fair size. His trees are on land 

 of only medium fertility but must be in that spot. He would prefer rich, sandy 

 loam, with southern aspect. He has few budded varieties. He recommends for 

 all jjurposes a few early varieties and then Indian peaches. He plants two-year- 

 old trees twenty feet apart, pruning the top close. He sometimes heads in, and 

 says it is the best way if done right. Thinks cold did a little harm. His peaches 

 "cook" some on one side of tree. Curculio come to him also: never tried any 

 cure. His trees are in blue-grass, and he pastures with sheep and horses. He 

 picks most any way and sorts in a [potato] machine sorter. Markets in crates of 

 one peck and one bushel. Wholesales in local markets, at from thirty to sixty 

 cents per bushel, feeding culls to hogs: says sheep will not eat them. Does not 

 believe it would pay to grow peaches largely for market in his locality. Says "if 

 the extreme cold weather of February ( 27 degrees below zero ) did not injure them, 

 they are as well off as usual, but we must all commence to spray at once or raise 

 nothing." 



AVilliaiii Price, El Dorado, Butler county, has lived in Kansas thirty-five 

 years. Had 300 peach trees of following varieties among his apple trees, but they 

 have all been removed, as they retard the growth of the apple tree, viz. : Old 

 Mixon Free, Early and Late Crawford, Amsden, Alexander, and Smock. He now 

 has fifty seedlings eighteen years old, and twenty-five younger ones, all bearing 

 medium-sized, fair-qualitj' fruit. They are on thin soil, with stiff clay, non-porous 

 subsoil. He would advise planting Crawford's Early and Late, Hale's, Amsden, 

 Smock and York for all purposes. He prefers to plant two-year-old trees, twenty 

 feet apart, cutting the outer and upper branches — save the center. On this 

 subject, he further suggests that "We must commence right at the root of the 

 young tree that is now to be transplanted: the tree should be taken up from the 

 soil in a careful manner — getting as many roots as possible. Now check the 

 rows twenty feet apart, and at the intersections clear away the soil sufficiently to 

 let the tree down about an inch deeper than it was in the nursery : examine the 

 roots and, if they are badly bruised, broken, or diseased, prune back to the sound, 

 living tissue. As to the top or branches, we should cut off all bruised or broken 

 twigs and cover the wound with damp soil. In the case of a young tree with 

 plenty of fibrous feeding roots, the top of such a tree only needs to be pruned 

 a little to improve shape: but if the roots are badly damaged, and have to be 

 pruned, then more severe pruning of the tops is necessary. If leaves form before 

 the old roots heal and new ones develop, the sap in the stem is soon exhausted, 

 and the tree dies. To be able to prune intelligently, the structure and growth of 

 trees for fruit- and wood-production should be understood. As the tree develops 

 from year to year, pruning is important in relation to cultivation, spraying, pro- 

 tection from winds, supporting the growing fruit, protection from sun-scald and 

 against borers, terminal branches to induce growth of laterals, check growth of 

 wood, and induce f rviit growth. While we have no college set of rules for pruning, 

 we do have furnished to us by nature underlying fundamental principles, which 



