®l)c iTarmcr's iHontl)lij Visitor. 



101 



nil the rigors of llie elemeiils, mid receiving 

 lieillier Tood nor care froni the hand of man. Tlie 

 shephurd oiily vigils ihcni (icca.sioiiiilly ; yet such 

 nro l\n'.\v grc^'arioiin haliils, that ihfy sin<liini stray 

 away and mix with anulhor llocli, ht'ini; liL'|it in 

 ilis(!i|iline hy the older ones who know tlieir 

 grounds, and hrcome altarhcd to the placo of 

 thfir nativity, to wljicl] they retnrii at night, evin- 

 cing an astonisliing vigilance and sagacity in 

 kee|iing the young ones together, and fiee from 

 liarni. In tlio formation of their stomach they 

 resumhle the camel, and can nndergo extreme 

 hunger and thirst. Tiiese are, however, the se- 

 condary qualities of the animal, though staleit 

 first, it is for its wool that the alpaca is particu- 

 larly desiralile, and entitled to he regarded, slujuld 

 the proposeil experiments succeed, as affording a 

 ncnv and valualile staple of commerce. In this 

 point of view the suggestion hecomes one of cou- 

 siderahle imporlance, as it is thought that the al- 

 paca will he found a snitahle slock for all om' 

 western and northern States, where waste and 

 uupjofitahle pastures woidd suffice them, and 

 they wrtulil hrowse on wild grasses and herhage 

 that sheep und cattle reject. — Furmer ^- .Mechanic. 



From the Farmer's Cabinet. 

 Culture of the I'eoch Tree. 



The following extracts are made from a letter 

 from Dr. Thompson, of Wilmington, Del., dated 

 the 2(jih of Third month lasr, addressed lo the 

 Southern Planter. The suhject is injportaut to 

 peach growers, as well as to the love"s of this de- 

 licious fruit. The Dr. says in a part of his letter 

 not copied, that the repnris in circulation of the 

 enormous profits of this husiness, have lieen 

 greatly exaggerated : this indeed is readily he- 

 lieved, hy all who are in the least familiar w itii 

 operations of the kind. They should he dis- 

 comaged and rectified, as they are calculated to 

 mislead and disuppoint the puhlic. — EJ. Fanner's 

 Cabinet. 



To Mr. Isaac Reeves, a native of New Jersey, 

 is the whole credit due of first introducing on a 

 large scale the culture of the innoiulate<l peach 

 tree into Delaware. The late Mr. Jacoh llidgway, 

 of Philadel|'.hia, owning a farm near Delaware 

 Oily, on the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, was 

 iniluced hy Mr. Reeves to become his partner, 

 and upon this property, in the spring of ]83"2, 

 they set out the first twenty acres of iimoculated 

 peach trees ever planted in this State, wirh the 

 view of supplying the I'hiladel|dfia market. 

 They rapidly extended their plaulation to about 

 one hundred and twenty acre.^, were eminently 

 successful, and one year — <\ie very best sfSi>iiit\ they 

 ever had — their gross income floin the sales of 

 fi'uit was some sixteen thonsaiid dollars. Peaches 

 then commanded from one dollar twenty-five 

 cents lo three dollars per basket, containing 

 aliout three pecks. Jn the spring of ]83l), the 

 late Mr. Manuel Eyre and myself followed suit 

 upon om' "Union Farm," ujidway between Wil- 

 mington and Newcastle on the Delaware river, 

 to about the extent of one hundred and forty 

 acres. In a year or two afterwards, Mr. Philip 

 Reyhold &: Sous went into the business — then a 

 host of others, imtil now, from twenty-five hun- 

 dred lo three thousand acres of land, in Newcas- 

 tle county, are planted with, and successfully cul- 

 tivated in peaches, making Delaware, though the 

 smallest of llie Slates, the largest p'roducer of 

 this linit. The result has been a proportionate 

 dimiiHition of price, the average, per basket, one 

 season with aiioilier, not exceeding from thirty 

 to sixty cents. In tins way Delaware has become 

 the jirincipal supplier of the Baltimore, Phila- 

 delphia, New York ami North river markets, and 

 many of our fine peaches now reach even Boston. 

 The whole annual income from this branch of 

 business to the farmers of this county may be 

 estimated from one to two hundred thousand 

 dollars. For so handsome an addifional product 

 the agricultm'ists of Delaware, as well as the coii- 

 snmers of poaches in our vicinity, owe a debt of 

 gratitude to the orisrinatnr of the culture, whom 

 as one. T should gladly miite in presenting with 

 some valued anil lasting memento in recognition 

 of his merit for giving a new staple lo a Stale ; Ibr 

 who is a greater benefactor to mankind and the 

 age he lives in, than he w ho brings into opera- 

 lion a new branch of business, giving by liis en- 

 terprise and perseverance an impetus to agricul- 

 ture ; causing the earth to give forth its increase, 

 and so multiplies its fruits as to bring them with- 



in the reach and enjoyment of all ? The great 

 improvement made in peaches within the last few 



years in Nc^w .lersey and Delaware, consists in 

 propagating none but the finest kinds, by hiuldinf; 

 nH(/g'(V{/?mg, so as to Imve the liaiit ns caWi/ and 

 as laic as onr latitude will admit; the I'arliest 

 ripeifujg with us from the first week in August, 

 such as Troth's Farly, Farly York and Farly 

 Ann, and ending in the latter part of October 

 with Ward's Late Free, the Heath, Algiers' Wiji- 

 ter, &c. I need not enumerate all the diflerent 

 varieties useil and planted out to keep up lids 

 succession — some of iho prinidpal are in the or- 

 der of enumeration, Trolh's Early, Eaily York, 

 Early Ann, Yellow Rai-eripe, Red Rareripe, Ma- 

 lacatoon, i^Iorrij' While, Old Mixon, Hodman, 

 Ward's Late Frea, Maiden, Free Sujock, Late 

 Rareripe, Heath, Algiers' Wiutei-, &c. These trees 

 are generally obtained for about six dollars per 

 hunilrcd, fi'om approveil nurserymen in Delaware 

 and New Jersey, and llie rearing of them coiisti- 

 tiues a disfmct business of itself They are pro- 

 duced by planting out the peach stones, or pits, 

 in the spring, which have been slightly covered 

 with earth in the lidl, so as lo he exposed lo the 

 action of the winter's frost. The sooner ihe pils 

 are put in ih(^ sand or earth after the fiuit is ma- 

 tured, the better — they never should become <lry. 

 'J'he sliools from these stones are budded in Au- 

 gust of the same year, fiom four to six inches 

 tiom the grouinl. The ensuing spring all the 

 first yiiar's growth is cut off id)Ove where the 

 S(Uon has taken — not, however, nmil it is well 

 ilevelojied — when, in the fall and fiillowing 

 spring they are ready for transplanting or sale. 

 The mode of prp|)ariug the ground Ibr them is 

 precisely that with us of the Inilian corn crop — 

 the eartli is well ploughed, and fl-oni thirty to 

 forty bushels of lime are spread upon it to the 

 acre. The trees of like kinds, for the conve- 

 nience of picking, are then set out in rows at dis- 

 tances varying from twenty to thirty feel apart, 

 according to the strength of the soil; a crop of 

 corn is then put in and eiiltivated in the usual 

 way, and this is done successively ihr three years ; 

 by this lime the trees begin to bear. The culti- 

 vation of llie com being the proper tillage fbrthe 

 trees, and this crop amply paying for all invest- 

 ment in trees, &-c. After llie trees 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 otdy 

 to affect the fruit, but seriously to injure the trees; 

 but they shoidd be regularly ploughed some three 

 or four limes in the season, just as if the corn 

 crop was continued. So obnoxious in our coun- 

 try is the peach tree to the worm, or borer — the 

 leseria, exiliosn — that each tree iii the orchard 

 should be examined twice a year, siimmer and 

 fall — say in June and October — by removing the 

 earth down to the roots, and killing with a prun- 

 ing-knife every intruder — then scraping the in- 

 jured bark and removing tlie glue. Thus ex- 

 posed, lliey should be left for a few days, when 

 tlie earth shoidd again be replaced with a hoe. 

 The limbs should be only moderately pruned or 

 thinneil out, so as to adnnl tlie sun and air, avoid- 

 ing in the operation leaviugybrAs, which incline 

 them to S|ilit when hurthened with fi-uit. When 

 the peaches lipen, they should be carefully 

 )iicked fi'om step-ladders, seven to eight li.'Ct high, 

 into small hand-baskets, holding one peck each. 

 Our operators fiir tliis piu-pose are both men and 

 women, who earn from fifty to seventy-five cents 

 a day, besides being found. These baskets are 

 gently emptied into the regular market baskets, 

 which are all marked with the owner's name and 

 strewed along the whole line id' orclmrd to be 

 picked. As these are filled they are put into 

 spring wagons, holding fi-om thirty to sixty bas- 

 kets, and taken to the wharf, or landing, where 

 there is a house, shed or awning, Ibr the purpose 

 of assortinrr Ihem, each kind by itself, which is 

 into prime and cullings — the prime being distin- 

 guished not only hy their size and selection, but 

 also by a handful of peach leaves scattered 

 through the top. They are then put on hoard the 

 boats in tier.--, separated by boards between, lo 

 keep them from injury, and so reach their des- 

 tined market. We consider a water communi- 

 cation fi-om the orchards, or as near as may be, 

 most essential, as all land carriage more or less 

 bruises or destroys the fruit. Our |-oads ihrough 

 the orchards and to the landings are all kept 

 ploughed and harrowed dowa smooth and even. 



The baskets for marketing the peaches are gene- 

 rally obtained in New Jersey at twenty-five to 

 tliirly-sevon dollars and fifty cents per hundred. 

 With trilling modifications our cullui-o and prac- 

 tice tnay be made lo suit not only the Sonlhertl 

 but the South-Westeru States. I may here, per- 

 haps, properly remark, that the average life of 

 our trees is from nine lo twelve years, when pro- 

 perly cared for and protected as 1 li;ive described ; 

 that the two great devastating enemies the trees 

 have to contend against are the ^eac/i U'orm and 

 tUii yellows ; the first leadily yielding to the A'lit/e 

 and the ireatment of semi-aimnal exanfmatiou ; 

 the latter being a constitulio7ial, consumptive, or 

 marasmalic disease, tor which no other remedy is 

 as yet known or to be practiced but extirpation 

 and destruction. There are many theories and some 

 practice recorded on this, hy fiir the most destruc- 

 tive enemy of the peach Iree. I may hereafter 

 give my own views on this particular and obscure 

 disease. 1 concur, however, with Mr. Downing, 

 of Newbnrg, that the great and prevailing dispo- 

 sition of the jieach tree in our climate is lo over- 

 production of tinit in favorable seasons. Our 

 remedy for this is carefully lo thin it off by pluck- 

 ing all those that touch, or are within two or 

 three inches of each othei-, when the size of 

 hickory nuts, which are thrown into some running 

 stream or into the hog pen to be devoui-ed. This 

 mode of" heading in," or pruning one half of the 

 producing buds, is new lo me, but which I have 

 just tried upon my garden trees in the city, and 

 will be able to sfieak of experimentally hereafter. 

 With us in Delaware, as everywhei-e else, the 

 peach iree succeeds best in a good soil. That |)re- 

 ferred is a rich sandy loam, with clay. Many of 

 my finest trees and choicest fruits are grown in 

 a loose and stony soil. The trees should never 

 be set out in wet, low, or springy situations, and 

 for the same reasons, high and rolling giound 

 should be selected for your i)lantations, and for 

 the additional circumstance that they are less ob- 

 noxious to early frosts. 



i may further remark, for the benefit of those 

 desirous to pay some attention to the cultivation 

 of peaches — and who should not be'} — that con- 

 siderable additions of new and valuable varieties, 

 native as well as foreign, are annually being made 

 to those already knovvn among us — many of thein 

 very fine. 1 have now several hundreds i-aised 

 from pits, imported for me by N. Frazier, Esq., 

 Buenos Ayrean Consul, of Philadelphia, and long 

 a i-esident merchant in that city, many of which 

 will bear this year and next. To Mr. Sayres, of 

 Sparta, Georgia, I am also indebted for a full 

 sample of the native Georgia varieties, as well as 

 to some other gentlemen in difterenl Statesman 

 of which 1 mean to test, and bring into notice, it 

 of suflicient value. Whilst in the vicini'y of 

 Richmond, Norfolk, Fi-edericksburg, Petersburg, 

 Wiiichester, and other large towns of Virginia, 

 the peach tree may be cultivated with profit for 

 the market, and all over the State for the purpose 

 of drying, every farmer and owner of a lot may 

 raise them in abundance for his own use. But I 

 am persuaded that the best fruit crop that Vir- 

 ginia farmers could raise is the apple — the pippin 

 apple, with perhaps some other of the finest fall 

 and winter varieties; they will bear transporta- 

 tion — always command a good price, and be sale- 

 able in our middle States and Northern markets, 

 and find a ready sale in London and Liverpool. 

 The very best and fairest I have seen for years 

 was during the past winter, the giowlh of Clark 

 and Jefierson counties, Virginia. But I am di- 

 gressing from the object of this letter, in going 

 tiom the peach to the apple, yet 1 am induced, like 

 Mr. Lawrence in his lale valuable letters to Mr. 

 Rives, in saying what Virginia may be, lo stir her 

 up and "provoke her to good works," if she 

 would take into serious consideration all the ad- 

 vantages of her location, climate, and natnral re- 

 sources. For her extent of territory, niinei-al 

 wealth and productive capacities, she is un- 

 equalled by anv of the old or new States, in her 

 ability to accumulate riches and support a popu- 

 lation worthy of her ancient fame. But here I 

 must curb my thoughts and repress the feelings 

 and expressions that seek vent in addressing 

 her sons on a specific subject. Two weeks spent 

 in Eastern and two in Western Virginia within 

 the past year, would promp-t one of her native 

 sons in another Slate, and under other influences, 

 to say to her more, if not halfaswell, as Mr. Law- 

 rence has recently said of what she is— of what 



