THE PEACH. 473 



of labor required, it would not be possible to state it with any 

 degree of precision, as it is made up of odds and ends." 



WINTER PROTECTION FOR THE TREES. 



In the chapter on the Situation of Orchards, directions 

 were given for the selection of sites for peach-orchards, to 

 secure them against the destruction of the crop by the cold of 

 winter. There are large districts throughout the more north- 

 ern States where a selection of this kind cannot be made, and 

 where the frequent and general failure of the crop indicates 

 the necessity of some artificial protection. Various experi- 

 ments for this purpose have been made, among which the 

 following have so far proved most successful. 



1. Training the young trees very low or near the ground, 

 so that the branches may be bent down in winter, and covered 

 with straw, corn-stalks, or, still better, with forest leaves or 

 evergreen boughs. It is important that the branches should 

 be laid upon the earth, that they may receive warmth from 

 below, and the covering should be thick enough to exclude 

 the cold air. Attempts to protect the fruit-buds by encasing 

 them in non-conducting substances, without bending down, 

 have generally proved failures. Covering with earth has 

 been tried, but the moisture often rots the buds. 



2. As the limbs of the peach soon become quite rigid, while 

 the roots are more flexible, a more successful mode has been 

 adopted: When the young trees are set out, the principal 

 roots are extended in opposite directions and the others are 

 kept cut off. This enables the tree, when the earth is par- 

 tially dug away, to turn as on an axle by a slight twisting of 

 the roots, so that it may be easily laid upon the ground. If 

 trained flat or fan-shaped, it is easily covered. 



3. A third mode has been successfully adopted in some of 

 the western States. The trees are planted in a row and the 

 branches trained horizontally in opposite directions. Posts 

 are set between the trees four or five feet high, and the tops 

 connected by strong horizontal poles. On the approach of 

 winter, rafters are placed on each side against these poles, 

 so as to form a rather steep roof. The outer limbs may be 

 bent under the rafters if necessary. The whole is then cov- 



