326 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



The second spring the pruning needed will be to shorten back the young 

 growth of the previous year nearly one-half, and to thin out the shoots that 

 may interfere with each other in the centre of the tree. The peach bears its 

 fruit on the wood of the previous year, and the tendency of growth is toward 

 the extremity of the branches, and finally to leave the centre of the tree des- 

 titute of young wood. The annual pruning, then, should be directed towards 

 the maintenance of fruit wood well distributed throughout the head of the 

 tree, so that the load of fruit will be carried without overloading the extremi- 

 ties and causing the limbs to break. 



FEEDING THE PEACH. 



Heavy applications of nitrogenous fertilizers are to be avoided in peach 

 culture, as encouraging too rank and sappy a growth and conducing rather 

 to wood than fruitfulness. If the orchard is sown annually in crimson clover 

 or some other legume growing during the winter, it will get all the nitrogen 

 needed without artificial application of phosphoric acid and potash, and es- 

 pecially potash. Frequently an unhealthy and yellowish condition of the tree 

 has been cured by the application of potash, and this fact has caused some 

 to believe that the disease known as "yellows" can be cured by potassic appli- 

 cations, which is hardly possible. The yellows is caused by a fungus, some 

 think, on the roots of the tree ; a species of the mushroom family. If this is 

 true, it would seem that the best way to fight the yellows is with fungicides 

 applied to the soil. The application of phosphoric acid and potassic fertil- 

 izers in liberal amount will greatly aid the growth of the clover, and the in- 

 creased growth will enable the plant to do more nitrogen catching, so that in 

 a few years it may be found best to cut the clover for hay rather than to con- 

 tinue the accumulation of humus material in the soil. Of this, however, 

 every grower must judge for himself. After plowing under the clover, the 

 clean and shallow cultivation of the soil is important, for no weed growth 

 should be allowed on the land to withdraw moisture from the trees during 

 their early summer growth. Some of the best work with the peach has been 

 done by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. 



The report of the Connecticut Station for 1895 has the following state- 

 ment in regard to the composition of the peach : 



* "When peach trees are set 18 feet apart each way, as is the common prac- 

 tice in this State, there are 130 trees to an acre. Experienced growers reckon 

 three baskets to a tree, an average yield for orchards five years planted. Four 

 baskets per tree is a maximum crop. From the above data are calculated 

 the quantities of nitrogen and mineral matter removed from an acre of 130 

 trees by the average crop of three baskets of peaches per tree, viz. : 



