272 FLORIDA FRUITS PEACHES AND PLUMS. 



earth around the tender rootlets much better than the hand 

 could do it you will see this by the way the soil washes 

 down put on more earth and then pour on the rest of the 

 water, shaking the tree gently as it settles ; this done, scat- 

 ter a handful of salt around the base of the stem to keep 

 the borers away. Throw on more soil, tread it down firmly, 

 then a little more dry soil on top, loosely, and your work 

 is done. Even in dry weather the tree thus planted will 

 need no more care for three weeks at least. It takes time, 

 to be sure, but often time lost is time saved, and so it is 

 here, not only time saved but trees saved. 



It is the nature of young peach trees to keep on growing 

 till late in the fall, and it is best, even in Florida, to check 

 this injudicious vigor by pinching off the young shoots and 

 ceasing to stir the soil. Bearing trees, in this respect, 

 should be treated differently; let them grow as late as 

 they will, it will do them no harm in this latitude, for the 

 latent fruit buds will consume all the extra sap caused by 

 cultivation. 



In the last word, cultivation (conjointly with pruning), 

 lies the grand secret of success in peach raising ; from the 

 moment the buds begin to swell in the spring till the leaves 

 fall in the autumn, keep the soil around the tree so mellow 

 and free from weeds that you can at any time run your 

 hand right down into it and bring it up filled with loose 

 soil. 



Cultivate at the beginning, cultivate at the middle, cul- 

 tivate at the end ; this, with due pruning, will secure a 

 fine crop of fine peaches, where, without these two things 

 conjoined, the same trees would produce tough, leathery, 

 unripened fruit. This latter is the usual condition of our 

 native Florida peaches, not because they are inherently 

 poor, but because their owners, like the ancient Medians, 

 do not understand their proper treatment. 



