HORTICULTURE 221 



more fruit buds than unthinned. Much of the thinning can be done 

 by spring pruning, either before or after the fruit is set. Six to ten 

 inches apart is close enough for the fruits to remain on the branches. 

 Peaches for market should be left on the tree until they have at- 

 tained full size and are well colored but still firm. They ship best if 

 cooled before putting on the cars. Thus harvested, carefully han- 

 dled, and placed in cold storage at 32 F. in small packages they 

 may be safely kept for three weeks, after which the quality rapidly 

 deteriorates. A bushel of peaches will fill, on the average, sixteen 

 3-pound cans. (U. S. E. S. K. 1906.) 



COMMERCIAL PEACH ORCHARDING. 



Success and Failure. In every region in which there are peach 

 growers and peach orchards, two facts are strongly impressed: First, 

 that there are many farmers who have not found any crop in their 

 experience that can yield them so large a profit as peaches, and their 

 orchards receive their best care and are a delight to the eye Second, 

 that there are also many farmers who have never had a dollar re- 

 turned for their investment in peach trees and labor of planting them ; 

 their orchards are grown up with weeds and grass, dead and half 

 dead trees predominate, the principal crop from the land is of weed 

 seeds, peach yellows and borers. It is the universal opinion of suc- 

 cessful peach growers that the price of their success was "eternal 

 vigilance." They are frequent and thorough in the search for borers. 

 They are convinced that tilling the soil during the entire life of the 

 orchard is the best fertilizer. They exterminate diseased trees before 

 the contagion spreads. They thin the fruit of overloaded trees that 

 every peach may be perfect. These two kinds of farmers are often 

 neighbors, with their orchards in view .of each other, so that a dif- 

 ference in soil or atmospheric conditions cannot be claimed as the 

 cause for the great difference in results. A farmer contemplating the 

 planting of peaches should carefully study cases of failure as well as 

 he does the cases of success and be thoroughly forewarned of the dan- 

 ger which lies before him and thereby be forearmed against it. 



There is considerable uncertainty or variability in the quantity 

 of a crop of peaches as well as in the price that can be obtained for 

 them. This uncertainty and the utter failures in cultivation will 

 tend to preserve the markets for the wide-awake and venturesome 

 who can face the discouragements of an off-year. (Pa. E. S. B. 37.) 



Varieties. Too much attention cannot be given to the proper 

 selection of varieties. The number of varieties to be used will de- 

 pend largely upon the method of marketing the fruit. If shipments 

 are to be made in iced cars, care should be taken to plant enough of 

 one variety, or of two ripening at the same time, to fill one or more 

 cars at a time, as freight rates are much less than express rates. If 

 the fruit is all to be hauled to near-by local markets a few hundred 

 trees of a kind may be enough, and possibly ten or more varieties 

 will be wanted. (W. Va. E. S. B. 82.) 



Harvesting and Marketing. Peaches are commonly packed in 

 the Delaware peach basket, called the one-half bushel basket, holding 

 % bushel, and the peach crate, sometimes called the Pennsylvania 



