PEACH 



PEACH 



2503 



cooled off so as to be ready for each day's demand, and 

 by placing an order with the railroad agent the night 

 before, the orchardist may have one or a dozen refrigera- 

 tor cars delivered on his side-track in the morning. 

 For smaller shippers, who cannot load in carlots, the 

 railroads keep at all times in season refrigerator cars 

 on siding at each station in the peach district, into 

 which any number of shippers may load; more often 

 there will be a number of such cars loading at the same 

 time, so that a shipper may have a choice as to which 

 market he will consign his fruit. Except in the height 

 of the season, these cars are often two and sometimes 

 three days in loading, and the continued opening of the 

 car to put in small lots of fruit prevents perfect refrigera- 

 tion ; consequently fruit f rein small shippers more often 

 goes to market in bad order than from the larger 

 orchards, where a car can be quickly loaded and at once 

 closed up, not to be opened until ready for sale in some 

 northern market. In the Hale orchards, a car is often 

 loaded in an hour, and very little of the fruit is ever so 

 long as two hours passing from the tree through the 

 assorting- and packing-houses to the car. 



In some of the smaller orchards, fruit is packed in 

 crates or baskets under the trees, and then hauled in 

 open wagons, often without springs, to the railroad 

 station. In others, some of the old farm buildings are 

 used as packing-houses; more often special fruit-houses 

 are used, their size depending upon the requirements 

 of the orchards, while in style and convenience more 

 depends upon the intelligence of the orchardists and 

 desire to handle the fruit rapidly in best possible man- 

 ner. The picking-basket most generally used is a shal- 

 low, round basket, with a drop handle, and holding 

 about a half-bushel. With good refrigerator cars and 

 prompt railroad service, fruit is now allowed to come 

 to full maturity on the tree, and is picked just before 

 it begins to soften. 



Since the organization of the Georgia Fruit Exchange, 

 some eight or ten years ago, about 75 per cent of the 

 peach-growers of Georgia, Alabama, and South Caro- 

 lina have, through this cooperation, been enabled to 

 secure a wider distribution and a more uniform market- 

 price for their products, and their business is on a more 

 secure foundation than in any other section of the 

 South. j. H. 



and a number of experiments have been made with 

 Canada field peas, fenugreek, and vetch. To grow a 

 cover-crop successfully, it is necessary to have water 

 in the fall, and as water from the canals is not obtain- 

 able, it must be secured by pumping. Barnyard manure, 

 when it is to be had, is given the preference by growers. 

 This is becoming very scarce, however, and eventually 

 commercial fertilizers will come into general use. 



Peach-growing in California. 



The peach is a fruit of wide commercial importance 

 in California. The great peach-growing sections are 

 principally in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, 

 but orchards are found and are profitable not only in 

 the mountains up to an altitude of 3,000 feet, but also 

 in the coast sections. The most important districts are 

 the first named. For size, flavor, color, and shipping 

 qualities, the peaches grown in this state have a national 

 reputation. 



The tree thrives not only on the sandy, loamy soils 

 which are adapted to irrigation and are well drained, 

 but also on the heavier red and black soils, which are 

 more or less mixed with gravel and are found both in 

 the foothill and coast regions of California. On account 

 of the arid climate, there being no rainfall from May 

 until October, it goes without saying that to produce 

 high-class peaches for either shipping, canning, or dry- 

 ing, irrigation is very essential. The theory that was 

 formerly advanced that irrigated fruit would not keep, 

 has not been borne out in practice, and to attempt to 

 grow peaches without irrigation, particularly in the 

 great valleys, would now be considered the height of 

 folly. 



Xo systematic plan has been followed in fertilizing 

 orchards, although growers are realizing that to grow 

 good fruit and to maintain an orchard up to the very 

 highest standard, the application of fertilizers is essen- 

 tial. Considerable interest is now taken in cover-crops, 



159 



2803. A good two-year-old peach tree. 



Peach trees are transplanted in California when they 

 are one year old from the bud, except in years when 

 stock is scarce and trees sell at high prices, when many 

 growers purchase June buds, which transplant readily, 

 providing care is taken to allow them to mature fully 

 in the nursery before digging. 



Nothing will bring a peach tree to a premature end 

 more quickly than not to prune. Trees when trans- 

 planted to the orchard should be pruned both root and 

 top. The root-pruning should be the shortening-in of 

 all the roots at least one-third and the removal of all 

 bruised and lacerated roots. 



After the trees are set, they should have the top cut 

 off to within 20 inches of the ground, even if the tree be 

 6 feet or more in height. In most cases, the failure of 

 trees to grow may be attributed to the orchardist's 

 failure to observe this simple rule. It is very necessary 

 to settle the soil around the tree, either by irrigating 

 (running the water in furrows), or by tanking (using 

 not less than fifteen gallons of water to a tree). 



The winter following the planting in the orchard, the 

 branches forming the head should be confined to not 

 more than five at the very outside, and four is better. 

 These should be cut back at least two-thirds and all 

 laterals removed. 



This pruning will not only cause the trees to grow 

 stocky, but it will probably also serve the purpose of 

 making the framework branches very sturdy. The tree 

 will respond by making an immense growth and in the 

 second winter the shortening-in of this growth will 

 again have to be very severe, and thinning will have 

 to be practised. The point to be considered in this 

 case again is to give the tree not only the goblet form, 

 but to perfect it, for this pruning increases its vigor 



