32 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Late Crawford are favorites for small gardens. The Waddell 

 and Carman are newer varieties and not very well known in his 

 region. The Coolidge Favorite is a good peach. 



AYilf rid Wheeler said that it was possible to put flavor into peaches 

 by proper attention to fertilizing. Stable manure, if used too freely, 

 would spoil the flavor of peaches. He advocated harrowing the 

 orchard twice a season; the second harrowing to be done in June. 

 Crimson clover and vetch were desirable to plant as a cover crop 

 and allowed to die down in winter, and fertilizing should be done 

 in the spring instead of in the fall. 



^Monroe ^lorse, a successful fruit grower of Medway, Massachu- 

 setts, was called upon to give his experience in peach cultivation. 



Mr. ]Morse said that he never practised grass culture of orchard. 

 He had experimented on one acre for two years, but they did not 

 grow as large as under open culture, and now he plows up the ground. 

 He had used crimson clover several times but without much success. 

 He had sowed also some vetch, but he depended mainly on barley, 

 oats, and peas as a cover crop. He advocated nitrate of potash 

 and Canada ashes for the peach orchard. 



By request Air. Morse has kindly furnished the following detailed 

 description of his method of fertilizing the peach orchard: 



"In fulfillment of my promise to write out in fuller detail the 

 leading points of my remarks at the recent discussion at Horticul- 

 tural Hall on peach growing, I think one of the things desired was 

 a clearer statement of my reasons for using ashes as a source of 

 lime for liming land. Ashes as I buy them from Canada are guar- 

 anteed to contain not less than 6 per cent total of potash and phos- 

 phoric acid; about 5 pounds of potash and 1 pound of phosphoric 

 acid. These 6 pounds in 100 pounds of ashes may be fairly con- 

 sidered worth 5 cents per pound or 30 cents value in each 100 pounds 

 of ashes. When bought in quantity the ashes cost me in Medway 

 45 cents per 100 pounds. Deduct the value of the potash and phos- 

 phoric acid and we have left 15 cents as the cost of the lime, about 

 35 pounds. 



The lowest price at which I could get air-slaked lime delivered 

 in Medway in large quantities was at the rate of 34 cents per 100 

 pounds. I do not think air-slaked lime contains more than 60 

 per cent of actual lime, 60 pounds to the 100, making the cost of 



