PEACHES. 273 



Cultivation and pruning pruning and cultivation ; these 

 are imperative elements of success in the peach orchard. 

 A very rich soil is not needed, in fact, it is apt to promote 

 branch growth at the expense of fruit, for every horticultu- 

 rist knows that great growth and fruit can not be expected 

 the same season. 



The best fertilizer for the peach tree is made in the fol- 

 lowing proportions: Four bushels of leaf mold, or ham- 

 mock top soil ; one bushel of well rotted cow chips ; one 

 peck of unleached hard-wood ashes ; and a quarter of a 

 peck of salt; these will give splendid results in growth 

 and fruit. 



The tree requires yearly pruning, as the fruit is only 

 grown on wood of last season's growth, and a superfluous 

 branch, therefore, only takes so much wood away from the 

 working portions of the tree. 



When set out it should be cut back to within two and a 

 half feet of the ground ; below this cut young shoots will 

 be produced, from which three should be selected to form 

 the main branches of the tree, all other shoots being 

 pinched off; the second year these three branches are cut 

 back one half their length, one shoot being allowed to 

 grow to continue the branch, and another to form a sec- 

 ondary branch, while a few bearing shoots are left to grow 

 from the older wood; the third season the six leading 

 branches are shortened one half, to obtain more bearing 

 shoots, and so the formation of the "head" goes on for 

 five years, and then, thereafter all that is necessary is an- 

 nually to shorten in the older branches and trim out where 

 too thick. 



As we have demonstrated, it is the want of this self- 

 same pruning and cultivation that has given the opportu- 

 nity for so many to declare that * ' good peaches can not be 

 raised in Florida." Let those who have old peach trees 



