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planted in the spring — fourteen feet apart each way for 

 peach, the land is squared and staked off and a notched 

 planting board used in setting the trees, so as to run ac- 

 curate lines. Ground bone is used under the trees, mixing 

 it well with the soil. The first two years field corn is gen- 

 erally grown, insuring good cultivation for the trees. Cul- 

 tivation commences in the spring by shallow ploughing with 

 a one-horse plow, and harrowing throughout the season with 

 the two-horse spring tooth. As our trees are low-branched, 

 many heads starting from the ground, we could not go close 

 enough with the harrow, so I separated the sections of the 

 harrow and put in a spreader, about eight feet long, which 

 enables me to go under the trees, and by going two ways, 

 and occasionally over the strip in the centre of the rows, I 

 completely control the weeds and save all hand labor. At 

 the last cultivation, about the last of July, a cover crop is 

 -sown. After trying several kinds ; crimson clover, cow- 

 peas, buckwheat, rape, winter vetch, and spring vetch, we 

 have concluded spring vetch is the best for us as this makes 

 a thick mat-like mass of vines, insuring a good soil cover- 

 ing during the winter, and also prevents washing of the 

 land, adds humus and nitrogen to the soil, and will not start 

 growth the next spring. 



Last spring we used lime-sulfur for a dormant spray both 

 for apples and peaches, and it completely controlled leaf 

 curl. Previous to this time we used the home-made Bor- 

 deaux, until 1909 we used Pyrox with much better results 

 than from the home-made mixture. We spray peaches only 

 once, for the curculio trouble us but little and most of the 

 peach diseases are not found in our section. San Jose scale 

 we do not have, but one serious fungous disease, brown rot, 

 is working in on the early varieties, especially Carmen, so 

 eventually we will probably have to use a summer spray. 

 The borers trouble but little, yet we intend to go over the 

 orchards each fall in search of them. I have one mulched 

 orchard planted on a clover sod, the grass being cut and 

 placed around the trees. This orchard made a fair growth 

 and was more stocky than the cultivated trees. It received 

 the same fertilizer as the cultivated trees. For three years 

 things went well, the fourth year there was a big crop of 

 fruit set, but in July we had a very dry spell, and the or- 

 chard being on a dry place, suffered. The leaves were 

 turning yellow and the peaches were dropping, some trees 



