2504 



PEACH 



PEACH 



and makes it capable of producing heavy crops which 

 are well protected from any injury by the sun, due to 

 its wealth of foliage. From the third year,- two or three 

 laterals are allowed to grow on each of the frameworks, 

 and their growth is again shortened-in severely. In 

 the fourth year, the pruning need not be so severe, and 

 a reasonable crop of fruit may be expected. Pruning in 

 after years should be followed out regularly each season 

 if good crops are to be secured and the longevity of the 

 tree maintained. 



It is a mistake to plant peach trees too close together. 

 In former years it was customary to plant 20 by 20 feet, 

 but now trees are planted 24 by 24 feet, as better results 

 have been secured at this distance. 



Thinning must be practised when the crop is heavy, 

 for, if not followed carefully, the fruit will lack size, and 

 no matter for what purpose it is used it will go into 

 an inferior grade and at prices which would be very 

 unsatisfactory to the grower. The peaches should 

 never be closer than 4 inches apart. If the ground 

 underneath the tree has the appearance of being 

 covered with a green carpet from the effect of the 

 thinning, it is evidence that the work has been well 

 done. 



When shipped fresh, peaches are wrapped in soft 

 paper and packed in twenty-pound boxes. The number 



2804. Peach-packing. The Climax basket. 



of peaches shipped out of California is about 2,200 car- 

 loads annually. For local consumption in the larger 

 cities, the peaches are shipped in open lug boxes, hold- 

 ing about forty pounds. 



The free-stone peaches are the only ones dried, as a 

 rule. These are first halved, the pits are removed, and 

 the fruit is placed in trays. The drying takes place in 

 the sun altogether. Before drying, the peaches are 

 exposed to the fumes of sulfur for not less than four 

 hours. This not only kills any insect life but gives 

 the peaches a much more appetizing appearance. The 

 very heavy tonnage of dried peaches, averaging 30,000 

 tons annually, would be utterly impossible to handle 

 unless the same could be dried by exposure to the sun's 

 rays. It requires from six to seven pounds of fresh 

 peaches to make one pound of the dried product. 

 Many persons object to the fuzzy skins on the dried 

 fruit and in recent years peeled peaches have been in 

 the markets in a limited way. The method of peeling 

 has been to expose the halved peaches to the sulfur 

 fumes for several hours. This loosens the skins and 

 they peel off readily. This handling of the fruit is 

 expensive, however, and with the difficulty of securing 

 labor, it has not been practicable except on a small 

 scale. This method has been very much improved, 

 however, and the peaches after being halved are now 

 dipped in a hot lye bath for fifty seconds, using about 

 one pound to ten gallons of water. The peaches are 

 then given a bath in cold water, not only to remove 



every vestige of lye, but to cause the skins to slough off. 

 Peaches treated in this way sell at twice the price of the 

 unpeeled peaches and the entire character of the fruit 

 is changed. Outside of the Ive bath, which is the 

 only additional treatment the fruit receives, the pro- 

 cess is the same as is followed when the peaches are not 

 peeled. 



The canning of peaches is another important branch 

 of the industry, the output from California being in the 

 neighborhood of 84,000 tons annually. This work is 

 conducted exclusively by commercial concerns having 

 every modern appliance to handle the fruit expeditiously 

 and turn out uniform grades. Outside of the halving 

 of the peaches, which work is done by women, the 

 work is accomplished entirely with machinery. Sani- 

 tary cans are used as containers and a limited quan- 

 tity of the fruit is placed in glass jars. The commer- 

 cializing of the industry has created a demand for well- 

 defined standards. To illustrate this, the only peaches 

 which are regarded as the leaders by the canning trade 

 are the clings; and in the list of varieties, the Tuskena, 

 Orange, and Phillips, all of which are yellow, are in the 

 heaviest demand. Peaches that have no red at the pit 

 are preferred for canning, as the syrup never becomes 

 discolored. The important place which the canning 

 industry occupies in the peach business will be sure to 

 bring about improvements in varieties to meet the 

 demand for peaches with smaller pits, finer-grained and 

 more highly flavored flesh. Already several new varie- 

 ties, mostly chance seedlings, have been introduced and 

 are attracting considerable attention. For shipping, 

 Alexander, Briggs (Red May), Early Hale, Dewey, 

 Imperial, Sneed, Elberta, and Salway are recognized 

 as standards; for drying, Elberta, Foster, Late Craw- 

 ford, Lovell, Muir, Susquehanna, and Wheatland; for 

 canning, Tuscan, Runyon, and Seller (Orange) Clings, 

 McDevitt and Phillip and Levy (or Henrietta). 



Fortunately, the California peach orchards have 

 never been threatened with insect pests or diseases that 

 cannot be controlled. The crown root-borer is trouble- 

 some, in some sections, but it has always been under 

 control. The San Jose scale is no longer regarded as a 

 very serious pest, for it is held in check by predaceous 

 insects and by spraying with lime-sulfur washes. Leaf- 

 curl in some years gives considerable trouble, but if the 

 trees are given a thorough spraying with bordeaux, it is 

 easily controlled. 



The average life of a peach orchard is twenty years, 

 but there are many profitable orchards much older 

 than this, when they have received good care. 



A failure of a peach crop has never been known in 

 California, and although in some years the crop has 

 been curtailed by late spring frosts, growers have never 

 practised smudging to any extent. 



GEORGE C. ROEDING. 



Protecting peach trees in cold climates. 



Numerous ways of protecting peach trees from the 

 effects of trying winter weather have been devised. 

 Such plans include the placing of a protective covering 

 about the trunk and branches of the tree. Cornstalks, 

 straw, hay, evergreen boughs, and similar materials 

 may be used for this purpose. Some persons have tried 

 the plan of laying the tree on the ground in an effort to 

 make the work of covering easier as well as more 

 effective. 



Peach trees may be laid on one side with compara- 

 tive ease and without much injury, providing the pro- 

 cess is begun when the trees are small. The root-system 

 is manipulated at this time in such a way that most 

 of it extends in two opposite directions. This is accom- 

 plished by cutting the roots, beginning when the trees 

 are small, preferably the first winter after planting and 

 thus accustoming them to the operation from the 

 beginning. If this plan is followed from the start, a 



