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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 



PEACH CULTURE, 



Mr. Brown : — I will give you some of the ob- 

 jections to the culture of the peach, with opinions 

 to sustain these objections. 



1. That we are too far north. 



2. That our winters are too severe. 



3. That our seasons are too short to mature the 

 wood. 



4. That when we have a crop our markets are 

 glutted. 



In the first place, we have a fair crop as far 

 north as 43° 30' this season. 



2. We have had a good crop seven years of the 

 past nine, which I think is as good a proportion 

 as is grown in the peach-growing districts of New 

 Jersey. I have lately returned from a tour through 

 the peach orchards of Jersey, and think we shall 

 have more peaches than they, in proportion to our 

 trees. If our winters are too severe, why is it 

 that some trees bear good crops, and others none 1 

 I cannot think that the cold of the past winter 

 caused the death of the fruit buds. As I passed 

 through large orchards, I could find no fruit, on 

 the south side of the trees, or any part of the limbs 

 that were exposed to the direct rays of the sun. 

 All that had fruit were with bushy heads, which 

 obstructed the sun's rays from destroying the vi- 

 tality of their buds. 



One tree I noticed on the north side of a build- 

 ing, bent to the ground by the weight of its fruit ; 

 the building completely shaded the tree from the 

 sun ; that was the only tree that I saw bearing a 

 fair crop. I saw large orchards without a basket 

 of fruit on them, and this is the condition of the 

 orchards in the centre of the State. 



In the lower counties bordering on Delaware 

 Bay, and in the State of Delaware, they had a 

 good crop. I cannot but think that the waters of 

 the bay had an influence on the sun's rays by its 

 vapors, which prevented the buds from being too 

 suddenly thawed, while orchards near streams 

 that were frozen are barren, although the cold 

 was not more severe. 



Some are of the opinion that the cold, freezing 

 weather we had last autumn injured the fruit buds 

 before the leaves fell. If such is the fact, how is 

 it that trees that were covered with snow are full 

 of fruit, while others in the same lot are barren? — 

 Last winter I was out removing the snow from my 

 trees, after the first drifting snow storm, and 

 found the buds appeared good at that time. Af- 

 ter the next storm I cleared them again and found- 

 by cutting the buds that nearly all were killed. — 

 In the intervening time we had very cold weath- 

 er, with clear air, and bright sun. I had a few 

 that were covered with snow which I did not dig 

 out ; they produced a full crop this season. 



3d. Our seasons are too short to mature the 

 wood of the nutmeg family, which may be owing 

 to their being subject to the mildew, but they are 

 hardly worth growing, on account of their size 

 and quality, and such is the case with many seed- 

 lings. 



Who wants nutmegs or seedlings when he can 

 have the Grosse Mignonne, Early York, Early 

 Crawford and many others, that always mature 

 their wood and very seldom, if ever, die. I now 

 come to the last objection, that of the market be- 

 ing glutted. Our market is never over-stocked 

 with good pjaches, at a remunerative price to the 



grower. It is poor fruit that fills our market. It 

 is first supplied from the south with fruit that is 

 gathered in a green state, and sold at a high price 

 here. It is generally so poor and wilted, that it 

 hardly deserves the name of peach. It is the 

 cheapest of the cheap, the dregs of their crops. — 

 Their markets never get over-stocked with choice 

 fruit any more than ours. This season, common 

 peaches sold in NewYork at $1 per basket, while 

 Early Crawfords brought $3 per basket, readily. — 

 If we should increase the supply of choice peach- 

 es, we should increase the consumption. It would 

 here, as in New York, be considered an indispen- 

 sable article on the table of all. Let the product 

 of a few thousand acres of choice peaches be sold 

 in Boston at a fair price, and in a few years we 

 should see sliced peaches served in sugar on the 

 tables of all, and be considered as indispensable as 

 most of our common dishes, especially by the 

 younger portion of the family. 



Danvers, Sept. 13. J. S. Neediiam. 



THE WEATHER. 



Succeeding the fierce drought of July and Au- 

 gust, there have been plentiful showers during 

 September, with a few very hot days in the early 

 part of the month. The grass has grown rapidly, 

 and the fields now appear in the lively green of 

 June. No heavy frosts have yet touched the fo- 

 liage, and the symptoms of decay, apparent are 

 the results of perfection and age. The woods are 

 assuming beautiful hues, inviting every lover of 

 autumnal scenery abroad. Fall feed is abundant, 

 and will save for winter use thousands of tons of 

 hay that must otherwise have been fed out in Sep- 

 tember. The latest fields of corn will have ample 

 time to ripen, and the crop will be considerably 

 increased by this favorable weather. Carrots, 

 beets, turnips, mangel wurzels and rutabagas are 

 gaining rapidly, and there will be a heavy crop to 

 help out the winter feed for stock. Apples are so 

 abundant that large quantities are fed to cattle 

 and swine. The second crop of hay has been un- 

 usually heavy, and many acres have been mowed 

 the second time which in ordinary seasons would 

 not have been cut. Some of the low meadows 

 which were cut early are now producing a pretty 

 fair second crop. Such is the present state of veg- 

 etation in this region. 



But while we are blest with timely showers and 

 genial suns, other sections of the country are still 

 suffering from extreme drought. In some portions 

 of New Hampshire, Vermont and New York, Ave 

 understand that there are scarcely signs of vegeta- 

 tion in the fields ; the pinching drought of summer 

 has continued, until aided by pinching frosts they 

 have put an end to the struggling existence of the 

 poor plants. 



Tiiirtv-seven Teams. — Friend IIilpretu, of the 

 Middlesex Farmer, will observe by our report that 

 thirty-seven teams plowed, at the Plowing Match, 

 in Concord, on the Gth, instead of twenty-seven, as 

 he has it. It is believed to have been the largest 



