HOME PROPAGATION OF PEACH TREES 



1545 



Thirty to 35 pounds of hairy vetch seed 

 should be used per acre to secure a good 

 stand of that crop. The seed of the vetch 

 has been rather high in price in past 

 years, but is becoming cheaper and is a 

 profitable cover crop. 



The thoroughness of the cultivation of 

 the orchard during the summer has an 

 Important bearing upon the success of the 

 cover crop. Where the cultivation of the 

 orchard is wholly or partly neglected, 

 or where a crop is grown between the 

 trees, considerable moisture is lost by 

 evaporation, and when the cover crop is 

 sown in the late summer it fails to find 

 favorable conditions for growth. Thor- 

 ough cultivation during the early summer 

 does much to insure a maximum cover 

 crop. 



The cover crop must be plowed under 

 very early the following spring to con- 

 serve the moisture in the soil for the bene- 

 fit of the trees. It is therefore necessary 

 that the cover crop make considerable 

 growth In the late summer and fall, other- 

 wise full benefit will not be secured from 

 it. 



Crimson clover and hairy vetch should 

 be sown in the young peach orchard about 

 July 15th to 20th. If the planting is de- 

 layed much later than this the best re- 

 sults are not likely to be secured. 



Cow peas are sometimes recommended 

 as a cover crop for the peach orchard, 

 but are usually less satisfactory than 

 crimson clover or hairy vetch. A cover 

 crop should not be planted much before 

 July 15th, as the stopping of cultivation 

 allows the soil to dry out too early, and 

 cow peas planted late often fail to make 

 a good growth in the orchard, especially 

 in dry seasons. The first killing frost 

 also stops their growth, the plants die 

 and there is loss of nitrogen before spring. 

 The expense for seed is also greater than 

 for a cover crop of crimson clover. 



Upon rich, moist, loamy soils, where the 

 trees are likely to make a late growth, a 

 cover crop of oats and vetch or oats and 

 crimson clover can be recommended. The 

 oats grow rapidly and soon take up much 

 of the available plant food and reduce the 

 soil moisture, which checks the growth of 



the trees and causes a better ripening 

 of the wood. Where the soil is moist and 

 well supplied with plant food in late sum- 

 mer the legumes cannot be expected to as- 

 sist in checking the growth of the trees. 



When oats are used as a cover crop 

 with vetch or crimson clover, three or 

 four pecks of oats to 25 pounds of vetch 

 or ten pounds of crimson clover is suf- 

 ficient. The presence of the oats often 

 protects the clover and causes it to winter 

 in better condition, but it attracts mice 

 and rabbits, and damage to the trees 

 should be guarded against. 



The importance of plowing under the 

 cover crop early in the spring cannot be 

 overemphasized. Where a crop of crim- 

 son clover is allowed to grow for several 

 weeks in the spring, it dries out the soil 

 rapidly, so much so that in some instances 

 the soil gets so dry and hard that plow- 

 ing has to be delayed until after a rain: 

 and where a large amount of green mat- 

 ter is plowed under late in spring, it does 

 not decay and become available to the 

 trees for some time, and the stimulation 

 comes too late in the season for the best 

 effect. 



Maurice A. Blake, 



New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, 



Jloistiire for Peaches 



A far more important factor than food, 

 for the peach or for any fruit, is drink. 

 Liebig's "Law of the Minimum," according 

 to which the yield of any crop is limited 

 by the amount of one constituent of food, 

 is now applied to all of the factors af- 

 fecting the growth of plants. When ap- 

 plied to the fruits of New York it will be 

 usually found that water is the limiting 

 factor. One cannot do better than to quote 

 several authorities as to the importance 

 of moisture in growing crops. 



King* states: "There are very few 

 fields upon which crops of any kind, in 

 any climate, can be brought to maturity 

 with the maximum yields the soils are 

 capable of producing without adopting 

 means of saving the moisture." 



Hilgardf holds that "under ordinary 



* Physics n£ .^Ki'iculture. p. ].S1, by K II. 

 KinK. Madison. Wis.: 1001. 



'i Soiis. p. -im. bv E. W. HllKard, New Ynil; ■ 

 1906. 



