Covering Peaches in Kansas. 101 



fan-shaped and is supported by a stake, and the bend 

 of the trunk rests upon a block of wood. The 

 long, horizontal trunk remains comparatively small 

 and pliable year after year. It should be covered 

 with an inverted board trough at all seasons, to 

 prevent injury from the sun. The flat top is laid 

 upon the ground each winter, by twisting the trunk, 

 and is covered with boards; it is not lifted un- 

 until all danger of late spring frosts is past. 



Experiments along this .line have been made in 

 Kansas:* "When the first attempt at their protection 

 was made, the trees [peaches] were three years old 

 from the bud. In the fall of that year, 1887, the 

 block was thinned out by removing some of the 

 trees, leaving the remainder at irregular intervals, 

 the alternate best trees with single, unforked trunks, 

 being left standing wherever they occurred in the 

 rows, with the result of an irregular alternate ar- 

 rangement, in which the trees stood perhaps from 

 six to ten feet apart. The tops of a number of 

 these trees were prepared for tying -up by the re- 

 moval of any wide -spreading branches, and by the 

 shortening- in of those remaining. After this prun- 

 ing, the branches were drawn toward the main 

 stem, held in place by ties of soft material to avoid 

 the barking of the branches, and the entire tree -top 

 thus prepared was surrounded by evergreen branches, 

 mostly those of pine and red cedar, which happened 

 to be at hand through certain changes in the ever- 



*Btdl. 14, Kan. Exp. Sta., Dec., 1890. 



