RESOURCES OF DELAWARE. 55 



But we are detaining the reader from the extracts from the letter of Doctor 

 Thompson, so much more worthy of his attention, and will only lake room to 

 add, that ample instructions as to rearing fruit and forest trees, from the stone 

 and the seed, the propagation of them by budding and grafting, and the gather- 

 ing and care of their fruits, will soon be given in this journal on the most reliable 

 authorities. Time may be found for the subject of budding, perhaps, in this num- 

 ber, as that must be done by the middle of next month. 



To Mr. Isaac Reeves, a native of New-Jersey, is the wliole credit due of first introducing 

 on a large scale the culture of the inoculated peacli tree into Delaware. The late Mr. Ja- 

 cob Ridgway, of I'hiladelpiiia, owning a fann near Delaware City, on the Che.sapeako and 

 Delaware Canal, was induced by Mr. Reeves to become liis partner, and upon this property, 

 in the spring of 183-2, they set out the first twenty acres of inoculated peacli trees ever plants 

 ed in this State, wilii the view of sujiplying the I'liiladelphia market. They rapidly ex- 

 tended their plantation to al)out one hundred and twenty acres — were eminently successful, 

 and one year — the rtcri/ bent se;ison they ever had — their gi-oss income from the sales of fruit 

 was some sixteen thou.sand dollars. Peaches then connnanded from one dollar twenty-five 

 cents to three dollars per basket, containing about three pecks each. In tVie s])ring of 1836, 

 the late Mr. Manuel Eyre and myself followed suit upon our " Union Fann," midway be- 

 tween Wilmington and Newcastle on the Delaware River, to about the extent of one hun- 

 dred and forty acres. In a year or two afterward, Mr. I'hilij) Keybold & iSons went into 

 the business — then a host of others, until now, from twenty-five hundred to three thousand 

 acres of land in Newca.st!e county, are planted with, and successfiiUy cultivated in peaches — 

 making Delaware, though the smallest of the Stales, the largest producer of this fruit. The 

 result has been a proportionate diminution of price, the average, per basket, one season with 

 another, not exceeding from thirty to sixty cents. In this way Delaware has become the 

 principal snj)plier of the Baltimore, Philadelphia, New-York and North River towii markets, 

 and many of our fine peaches now reach Boston. The whole annual income from tliis 

 branch of business to the farmers of this country may be estimated at from one to two hun- 

 dred thousimd dollars. The great improvement made in peaches within the last few years 

 in New-Jersey and Delaware, consists in propagating none but the finest kinds, by budding 

 and grafting, so as to have the fruit ax early :uid as late a.s our latitude will admit of, the 

 earliest ripening with us from the first week in Augii.^t, such as Troth's Earlv, Early Yoi'k. 

 and Early Ann, and ending in the latter part of October with Ward's Late Free, the Heath, 

 Algiers Winter, &,c. I need not take up yom- time now with enumerating all ihe different 

 varieti<>s used and planted out to keep up this succession ; some of the principal ones are (in 

 the order of enumeration) Troth's Early, Early York, Early Ann, Y'ellow Rareripe, Red 

 Rareripe. Malacatoon, Morris White, Old MLxon, Rodman, Ward's Late Free, Maiden, Free 

 Smock, Late Rareripe, Heath, Algiers Winter, &c. These trees ai'e geuendly obtained for 

 about six dollars per hundred fi'om approved nui'seiymen in Delaware and New-Jersev, and 

 the rearing them constitutes a distinct business of itself. They are produced by planting out 

 the peach stones, or pits, in the spring, which have been slightly covered with earth iu the 

 fall, so {IS to be exposed to the action of the winter's frost. The sooner the ])its ai'e put in the 

 sand or earth after the fruit is matured, the better ; they should never become dry. The shoots 

 fiom these stones are budded in August of the same year, from four to six inches from the gi-ound. 

 The ensuing spring all the first year's growth of the stock tree is cut off above where the scion 

 h;i9 taken — not. however, until itis well develope<l — when, in the fall an<l f<)llowing spring they 

 are ready for tnmsplanting or sale. The mode of prejjaring the ground for them is precisely 

 that with us of the Indian com crop : the earth i.s well }>lowed, and fi-om thirty to fort)- bushels 

 of hme is spread upon it to the acre. The trees of like kinds (for the convenience of pick- 

 ing) are then .set out in rows at distances varying from twenty to thirty feet apart, according 

 to the strength of the soil ; a crop of corn is then ]>ut in and cultivated in the usual wav, and 

 this is done successively for three years ; by this lime the trees begin to Ijcar. The cultiva- 

 tif)n of the com being the proper tillage for the ti-ees, and this crop amply paving for all in- 

 vestment in ti-ees, &c. After the ti-ees commence bearing, no other crop of any kind should 

 ever be grown among them- as I have known two rows of potatoes between a row of peach 

 trees not only affect the fruit, but seriously injure the trees; but they should be regularly 

 plowed some three or four limes in tin,' season, just as if the corn crop was continued. So 

 obnoxious in our country is the peacli live to the worm, or borer — the " a-geria exitiosa" — 

 that each tree in the orchard should be examined twice a year, summer and fall — say in June 

 and October — by removing the earth down to the roots, and killing with a jinining knife, 

 every intruder — then sci-ajiing the injured bark and removing the glue. Thus exposed, they 

 should be left for a few days, when ih^i earth siiould again be replaced with a hoe. The 

 limbs should be only moderately jiruned, or tViinned out, so as to admit the sun and air, 

 avoiding in the operation leaving /orA-.s-, which incline them to split when bnrthened with 

 fruit. \Vhen the peaches ripen, they should be carefully picked from step-ladders, seven to 

 eight feet high, into small baud-baskets, holding one peck each. Our operators for this pur- 

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