PEACH 



PEAR 



2505 



little work with the spade will suffice to lay a tree down. 

 Once on its side, the branches should be gathered 

 together with twine and the covering put in place and 

 weighted down. 



An interesting method of laying a tree down without 

 disturbing its roots was devised a number of years ago. 

 This is accomplished by bending the newly planted 

 tree over to the ground, where it is fastened. The side 

 branches are cut off at first as fast as they appear, thus 

 inducing a long straight growth. After the prostrate 

 stem has attained a length of 10 to 12 feet, an upright 

 top is allowed to develop. At the approach of winter, 

 the top of a tree trained in this manner can be pushed 

 over easily, as the long prostrate trunk serves as a 

 lever or pivot. The long exposed trunk will need to 

 be protected at all times from the effects of the sun. 

 This is easiest done by using an inverted trough made 

 of light boards. 



The process of laying trees down under irrigated 

 conditions is somewhat simplified, as the ground can be 

 made very soft by the use of water. Here, again, the 

 work should be begun the first winter after planting. 

 The ground about the young tree is first saturated with 

 water from the irrigation ditch. The trees are then 

 pushed over in the direction that offers the least resist- 

 ance. After the branches have been drawn together 

 with cord, they are covered first with burlap, then with 

 a light coating of earth. As the trees become more 

 mature, a basin about 4 feet in diameter is made in the 

 earth about the trunks before the water is turned in. 



The nicest of judgment must be used in removing the 

 covering in the spring, as a little too much warmth or a 

 slight exposure to cold may mean the loss of the year's 

 work. At the first sign of swelling buds in the spring, 

 the earth covering must be lightened during the middle 

 of the day and replaced for the night. As growing 

 weather comes on, still more of the covering is removed 

 and a certain amount put back each night until the 

 tree is raised for the summer. The danger of damage by 

 cold continues until the fruits have attained considera- 

 ble size, consequently the work of uncovering in the 

 middle of the day and of covering for the night extends 

 through a comparatively long period. 



After the danger of damage by frost is passed, the 

 ground is again irrigated and the trees are raised. 

 Trees so handled are unable to support themselves in 

 an upright position, consequently they are supported 

 at an angle by props. It is estimated that the entire 

 labor of laying a tree down, covering and of raising 

 again in the spring, can be done at a cost of 50 cents a 



W. PADDOCK. 



PEANUT (Arachis hypoqsea). Popularly the pea- 

 nut, as the name indicates, is called a nut, but it more 

 properly falls into the class of grain or forage crops. 

 The fruit or "nut" is really a pod, comparable with a 

 bean-pod or pea-pod. The plant is related to beans 

 and peas. The seeds (comparable with bean seeds) 

 furnish excellent food for man as well as for his beasts 

 and fowls, and the cured tops make an excellent hay 

 or forage. The peanut is usually not classed with hor- 

 ticultural crops; for a fuller account, see Vol. II, "Cy- 

 clopedia of American Agriculture." 



Commercially, the peanut is not grown" north of the 

 latitude of Washington, D. C., but on the sandy and 

 loamy soils to the south and west of the above-named 

 city, on lands that have recently been limed, it may be 

 used as a rotation or as a special money crop. North of 

 this territory the plant can be used with profit as a 

 forage for hogs, although only a portion of the pods set 

 will come to maturity. As a garden plant, the peanut 

 can be grown as far north as central New York, but 

 only a few pods will actually mature seeds, except in 

 long warm growing seasons, 



There are two general types of peanuts: those known 

 as bunch nuts, and as vine or trailing nuts. The bunch 



nuts are most desirable because the tops can be more 

 easily harvested for forage, the rows may be closer 

 together and the distance between the plants in the 

 row may be less than with the vining types. The culti- 

 vation as well as the harvesting (digging) is easier. The 

 bunch type of nuts, such as the Spanish and Valencia, 

 may be planted in rows 30 to 36 inches apart, with the 

 seeds scattered 6 to 10 inches apart along the row. The 

 large-seeded thick-shelled nuts require to be shelled 

 before planting in order to insure satisfactory germina- 

 tion, but the smaller thin-shelled sorts may be planted 

 whole and a good stand secured. The planting season, 

 as well as the field care of peanuts, is practically the 

 same as for corn. They are tender to frost and grow 

 best during warm weather. The vines will be killed by 

 the first frosts, but when desired for forage should be 

 harvested in advance of that date. As the pods or nuts 

 are borne beneath the surface of the soil, the crop is 

 harvested by lifting or plowing out the whole plant, 

 separating it from the earth and curing the plant and 

 pods together by stacking them in tall narrow stacks 

 built up around a slender stake about 6 feet high, at the 

 bottom of which cleats 3 feet long have been nailed in 

 such a way as to keep the plants off the ground. The 

 stacks are so built as to cause the vines to protect the 

 nuts. The roots with the nuts attached are placed next 

 to the stake, with the tops out. This method permits 

 the nuts to be cured slowly and without discoloration or 

 staining that would result were the nuts exposed to 

 the weather. The plant is a most interesting one, both 

 horticulturally and botanically, and is at the same 

 time an important economic crop as well as a garden 

 novelty. L. C. CORBETT. 



PEAR. A popular fruit and tree of the genus Pyrus, 

 long cultivated and much modified. 



The cultivated pear, as known in North America, is 

 derived from two distinct sources, the European Pyrus 

 communis and the Oriental Pyrus serotina. Pears of the 

 European stock have been grown in North America 

 from the earliest settle- 

 ment of the country. They 

 thrive particularly well in 

 the New England states 

 and New York, and west 

 to the Great Lakes, and 

 again on the Pacific slope. 

 In the great interior basin, 

 pear-culture always hajS 

 been precarious, due pri- 

 marily to the great liabil- 

 ity of the trees to blight. 

 In the southern states, 

 the climate is too hot for 

 the best development of 

 the tree and the best quality of the fruit. In the north 

 prairie states, the winter climate is so severe that the 

 pear tree will not grow. Forms of pears are shown in 

 Figs. 2806 and 2807, as representing the common species. 



Some time before the middle of the preceding cen- 

 tury the sand or Chinese pear (Pyrus serotina, formerly 

 and, as it now appears, erroneously, identified as P. 

 sinensis), Fig. 2808, was introduced into the eastern 

 states, although it attracted little attention. It soon 

 hybridized with the common pear, and a race of mon- 

 grel varieties was the result. Of these hybrids, only 

 two have gained great commercial prominence. These 

 are LeConte and Kieffer (Figs. 2809, 2810, 2811). 

 The LeConte, which appeared about the middle of 

 last century and which is the first of the American 

 hybrids, so far as we know, was found to be well 

 adapted to the southern states and its general intro- 

 duction there after the close of the Civil War was the 

 beginning of commercial pear-culture in the South. 

 It was first supposed to be blight-proof, but, in later 

 years, orchards have been nearly decimated by the 



2805. Cluster of pear flowers 

 (Pyrus communis). (XJi) 



