THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



to the work was satisfactory, as the or- 

 chard was only very slightly affected, 

 while the sides of the three rows which 

 were not sprayed were badly diseased. 



On the trees which were whitened 

 throughout the winter in addition to the 

 Bordeaux sprayings, scarcely a curled 

 leaf could be found. The orchard was 

 visited by a number of prominent fruit 

 growers from Grimsby, Winona and 



other points who expressed themselves 

 as pleased with the results. 



To avoid a repetition of the damage 

 to the foliage this year we will use only- 

 2 lbs. of copper sulphate to 40 gallons 

 of water when we spray in April and 

 May. 



W. M. Orr. 



Fruitland. 



PEACH GROWING. 



OME nine thousand acres of 

 land in western New York are 

 devoted to the peach indus- 

 try, and, in accordance with 

 the new law of that state. Professor 

 Bailey has been making reports to the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture on the 

 condition of that industry. The facts 

 in the case, and the counsel based upon 

 them, seem so important that we give 

 our readers a digest of parts of this re- 

 port. Professor Bailey thinks that the 

 peach industry, more than any other 

 pomological interest, suffers peculiarly 

 from careless methods. The first error 

 is lack of cultivation ; the second, inat- 

 tention to borers and yellows ; the 

 third is neglect to thin the fruit, and 

 the fourth is carelessness in marketing. 

 Location and Soils. — Many orchards 

 are planted on land which is unsuited 

 to them, such as heavy clay soils, or 

 low lands with imperfect drainage 

 of water and of air. The ideal peach 

 soil is deep sand, upon which trees 

 make a hard growth. The wood ma- 

 tures early, the trees bear well and the 

 fruit has high color and flavor. It is 

 such soils and exposures which have 

 made the Peach region in Delaware, 

 New Jersey, the eastern shore of Lake 

 Michigan and some parts of the south 

 famous. Peaches may be made to 



grow on heavy land, but the trees must 

 be severely headed in. The gravelly 

 soils about the New York lakes are well 

 adapted to the peach, but in the in- 

 terior part of that state, away from the 

 lakes, peaches only thrive on elevated 

 lands which are naturally drained and 

 escape the late spring frosts, so ofterk 

 disastrous to the peaches on lower 

 places. 



Cultivating and Fertilizing. — Peach 

 orchards should never be cropped after 

 the third year, and on sandy lands 

 especially, if the trees stand less thai> 

 twenty feet apart, they should never be 

 cropped from the time they are set. 

 Frequent stirring of the surface-soil 

 from May until August is desirable, and 

 thereafter, perhaps, a green crop should 

 be raised to be plowed under next 

 spring. The orchard should, under no 

 circumstances, be sowed to grain or 

 seeded down, but it is easy on strong 

 land to produce an overgrowth. Trees- 

 grow quickly to a great size, they bear 

 poorly, and in some cases are never 

 productive of much fruit ; they run to- 

 wood, and the wind tears them to 

 pieces. In addition to land which is 

 too strong, too free a use of barnyard 

 manure or other nitrogenous fertilizers 

 is often made, and cultivation is con- 

 tinued too late in autumn. Potash and 

 20 



