GOOD POINTS ABOUT PEACHES. 



Conclusions. — If the grower wishes 

 a hardy, productive, mildew-resistant 

 gooseberry, with thin-skinned fruit of 

 good quality and delicate flavor, let him 

 select one of the American varieties, 

 such as Downing, Houghton or Pale 

 Red. If he is prepared to fight the 

 mildew, and wishes to grow for market 

 a large early berry, or late fruit of strik- 

 ing size and uncommon color, the 



European sorts like Industry, Crown 

 Bob or Wellington Glory are to be pre- 

 ferred. Whatever varieties may be 

 selected, plant the bushes on good soil, 

 give them plenty of room and rich food, 

 keep down the grass and weeds by shal- 

 low cultivation, prune out the useless 

 wood, let in the light and air, destroy 

 the worms and prevent the mildew. 



GOOD POINTS ABOUT PEACHES. 



Z^TpC^H E essential elements of success 



with peaches are : i, seed from 



natural pits, free from any taint 



of disease, with equal care in 



getting buds ; 2, healthy trees, planted 



on high, dry land, where no peach trees 



have stood before, with moderate, clean 



culture up to July, yearly (not afterward) 



so as to secure only well ripened wood 



in autumn ; 5, the yearly application of 



some perfect manure potash included. 



These things are all important. 



There are a few other points which I 

 desire to emphasize : First, the practice 

 of moderation in the early years of a 

 peach orchard, to be followed after 

 maturity by very liberal management. 

 Second, never let an orchard bear a 

 breaking crop ; a mt iderate crop of large 

 peaches is more valuable than a very 

 heavy crop of small peaches ; besides it 

 is far less exhausting. Again, the prac- 

 tice of cutting back the branches so as 

 to reduce the number of blossoms helps 

 the matter of thinning and promotes a 

 growth of more new, vigorous wood to 

 bear fruit the succeeding year. 



Last spring I made an application of 

 600 lbs. per acre of fish and potash, to 

 each ton consisting of 1400 lbs. of 



ground fish and 600 lbs. of potash. My 

 leading object was to plant between 

 the peach rows strawberries for plants 

 and fruiting, but the effect upon the 

 eight-year-old peach orchard was ex- 

 cellent. The fruit upon these trees was 

 perhaps as fine as I ever had, and the 

 growth and promise next year are the 

 best. This was only a part of the 

 orchard, and I seriously regretted that 

 it had not been over it all. From this 

 experience and what I have observed 

 elsewhere, I have no hesitation in 

 recommending some quick-acting nitro- 

 genous fertilizer in connection with the 

 other elements in a mature or declining 

 peach orchard. Another practice popu- 

 lar in Michigan and undoubtedly bene- 

 ficial, is the early sowing of rye in 

 August to serve as a winter mulch, and 

 in spring to be turned under as a 

 manure. With our occasional warm 

 spells in winter, the use of some means 

 to act as a mulch, and thus maintain a 

 uniform condition of temperature in the 

 soil, canrwt be over-rated. I saw in 

 Tennessee some peach orchards mulched 

 with straw for the s«me purpose, cer- 

 tainly a reasonable practice. — 1'. M. 

 Augur, in Farm and Home. 



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