PEA 



425, 



PEA 



hundred to three thousand acres of 

 land, in Newcastle county, are planted 

 with, and successfully cultivated in 

 peaches, making Delaware, though the 

 smallest of the States, the largest pro- 

 ducer of this fruit. The result has been 

 a proportionate diminution of price, the 

 average, per basket, one season with 



rearing of them constitutes a distinct 

 business of itself. They are produced 

 by planting out the peach stones, or 

 pits, in the spring, which have been 

 slightly covered with earth in the fall, 

 so as to be exposed to the action of the 

 winter's frost. The sooner the pits arc 

 put in the sand or earth after the fruit 



another, not exceeding from thirty to is matured, the better — they should 

 sixty cents. In this way Delaware has ! never become dry. The shoots from 

 become the principal supplier of the j these stones are budded in August of 

 Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and the same year, from four to six inches 

 North River markets, and many of our from the ground. The ensuing spring 

 fine peaches now reach even Boston, all the first year's growth is cut off 

 The whole annual income from this above where the scion has taken — not, 

 branch of business to the farmers of this { however, until it is well developed — 



county may be estimated from one to 

 two hundred thousand dollars. For so 

 handsome an additional product, the 

 agriculturists of Delaware, as well as 

 the consumers of peaches in our vicini- 

 ty, owe a debt of gratitude to the ori- 

 ginator of the culture, whom as one, I 

 should gladly unite in presenting with 

 some valued and lasting memento in 

 recognition of his merit for giving a neiv 

 staple to a State ; for who is a greater 

 benefactor to mankind and the age he 

 lives in, than he who brings into opera- 

 tion a new branch of business, giving 

 by his enterprise and perseverance an 

 impetus to agriculture ; causing the 

 earth to give forth its increase, and so 

 multiplies its fruits as to bring them 

 within the reach and enjoyment of all ? 

 The great improvement made in peach- 

 es within the last few years in New 

 Jersey and Delaware, consists in propa- 

 gating none but the finest kinds, by 



when, in the fall and following spring, 

 they are ready for transplanting or sale. 

 The mode of preparing the ground for 

 them is precisely that with us of the 

 Indian corn crop — the earth is well 

 ploughed, and from thirty to forty 

 bushels of lime are spread upon it to 

 the acre. The trees of like kinds, for 

 the convenience of picking, are then 

 set out in rows at distances varying from 

 twenty to thirty feet apart, according to 

 the strength of the soil ; a crop of corn 

 is then put in and cultivated in the usual 

 way, and this is done successively for 

 three years; by this time the trees be- 

 gin to bear. Tlie cultivation of the corn 

 being the proper tillage for the trees, 

 and this crop amply paying for all in- 

 vestment in trees, &c. After the trees 

 commence bearing, no other crop ot 

 any kind should ever be grown among 

 them, as I have known two rows of 

 potatoes between a row of peach trees 



budding and grafting, so as to have the not only to affect the fruit, but seriously 

 fruit as early and as late as our latitude . to injure the trees ; but they should be 

 will admit ; the earliest ripening with us ; regularly ploughed some three or four 



times in the season, just as if the corn 

 crop was continued. So obnoxious in 



from the first week in August, such as 



Troth's Early, Early York and Early 



Ann, and ending in the latter part of our" country is the peach tree to the 



October with Ward's Late Free, the 



Heath, Algiers' Winter, &c. I need 



not enumerate all the different varieties 



worm, or borer — the tegeria exitiosa — 

 that each tree in the orchard should be 

 examined twice a year, summer and 



used and planted out to keep up this : fall — say in June and October — by re^ 

 succession — some of the principal are moving the earth down to the roots, and 

 in the order of enumeration. Troth's killing with a pruning-knife every in- 

 Early, Early York, Early Ann, Yellow \ truder — then scraping the injured bark 

 Rareripe, Red Rareripe, Malacatoon, ' and removing the glue. Thus exposed, 

 Morris' White, Old Mixon, Rodman, ! they should be left for a few days, when 

 Ward's Late Free, Maiden, Free ; the earth should again be replaced with 

 Smock, Late Rareripe, Heath, Algiers' a hoe. The limbs should be only mo- 

 Winter, &c. These trees are generally derately pruned or thinned out, so as to 

 obtained for about six dollars per hun- admit the sun and air, avoiding in the 

 dred, from approved nurserymen in [ operation leaving forks, which incline 

 Delaware and New Jersey, and the I them to split when burthened with fruit. 



