PEACH 



it is too strong for the Peach. The second trouble may 

 be the too free use of barn manures or other nitrogenous 

 fertilizers, or too late tillage in the fall. 



The keynote to the proper fertilizing of Peach 

 orchards is liberal use of potash and phosphoric acid 

 and sparing use of nitrogen. Ashes, muriate of potash, 

 bone fertilizers, these are some of the best fertilizers 

 for Peach trees. Tillage, with green manure crops at 

 the end of the season, can be relied upon to furnish the 

 nitrogen in most instances; and it is even possible to 

 plow under too much vetch or crimson clover in the 

 course of years. Peaches which overgrow are likely to 

 suffer in winter. 



PntnitKj Peach Trees. The methods of pruning Peach 

 trees are the occasion of much discussion amongst po- 

 mologists. The differences of opinion turn chiefly about 

 three practices, short trunks with rapidly ascending 

 branches; high trunks with more horizontal branches; 

 and shortening-in or heading-back the annual growth. 

 Each of these three methods has ardent advocates and 

 opponents. It is probable that each system has distinct 

 merits for particular cases. The nature and fertility of 

 the soil are often the dominating factors in these oppos- 

 ing methods. A system of pruning which fits the slow 

 growth and hard wood of sandy soils may not be adapted 

 to the rapid growth and heavier tops of trees on strong 

 soils. Fig. 16G7 shows what is believed to be, in gen- 

 eral, the best method of pruning Peach trees on sandy 

 or what may be called Peach soils. It is the natural 

 method. The tree is allowed to spread its top at will, 

 with no heading-in. The foliage is comparatively light 

 and does not place great weight upon the branches, and 

 the trees, on such lands, do not grow quickly to such 

 great size as on heavy lands. This method of allowing 

 a tree to make its natural top is the common one in the 

 Chesapeake peninsula (Pig. 1668) and in the Michigan 

 Peach belt (Fig. 1669). It will be observed, also, that 

 the pictures show trees with short trunks and forking 

 branches. It is a prevalent opinion that such trees are 

 more likely to split with loads of fruit than those which 

 have more horizontal branches, but this is an error. Of 

 course, much care should be exercised to see that the 

 branches do not start off from the trunk at exactly the 

 same height, thus making a true fork or Y. With this 

 precaution, the crotchy trees are no more likely to split 

 than the others, while they allow of a much better form 

 of top, unless the tree is to be headed-in. The horizontal 

 branches of the high-topped trees often appear to carry 

 a load of fruit with less ease than the more upright 

 branches of the other style of training. This danger 

 of breaking is greatly lessened if the fruit is properly 

 thinned. The low trunk permits a more open top, and 

 this seems to be an advantage. One is often surprised 

 at the thinness of top in the best Peach orchards of 

 Michigan and Delaware. In such tops, the Peach should 

 color better, and it is reasonable to expect less trouble 

 from fungi. 



Yet there is much to be said for the high-topped trees. 

 They are more easy to till and it is quite as easy to pick 

 their fruit; and there is less tendency to make long and 

 sprawling branches as a result of careless pruning. On 

 rich lands, it is perhaps the better method. And here 

 is the chief reason for heading-back in he North, 

 the necessity of checking the growth and keeping the 

 tree within bounds when it is growing in a strong soil. 

 Whether one shall head-in his trees or not, therefore, 

 must depend on circumstances. In sandy Peach lands 

 it is generally unnecessary, but it may be a good prac- 

 tice when trees make an over-exuberant growth. This 

 heading-in is usually done in the winter, from a third 

 to half the annual growth being removed. 



Heading-in the branches always tends to make a thick- 

 topped tree. The best growers usually give much atten- 

 tion to cutting out the small unprofitable wood from the 

 center of the tree (compare Figs. 1670, 1671). This labor- 

 may be greatly increased if heading-in is practiced. If 

 not persistently thinned of the inner growths, headed-in 

 trees tend to produce fruits of lighter color and of later 

 ripening. Many orchards have suffered from twig- 

 blight in these central shoots. 



The pruning may be made a thinning process. The 

 fruit of the Peach is borne on the wood of the previous 

 year. The Peach makes true flower-buds, those con- 

 taining no leaves. Two flower-buds are borne together 



PEACH 



1229 



as a rule, on either side of a leaf-bud. These buds 

 often show plainly as early as August, or even earlier. 

 At that time the position of some of the fruit-buds may 

 be distinguished by the triple leaves (Fig. 1672). When 



1663. Elberta Peach (X nearly %). 



the leaves have fallen, the twiu fruit-buds, with the 

 leaf -bud between, present the appearance shown in 

 Fig. 1673. Not always do the two buds develop: one of 

 them may be aborted or injured so that a single flower- 

 bud and a leaf-bud stand together. These flower-buds 

 are borne on both the strong terminal shoots and on 

 the weak growths in the interior of the tree top. The 

 fruits in the interior of the top are for the most part 

 poor; therefore it is good practice to remove the weak 

 shoots on the inside of the top, thereby thinning the 

 fruit and allowing the energy of the tree to go to the 

 development of the fruit nearer the outside. Any sys- 

 tem of pruning, therefore, which removes the annual 

 growth thins the fruit. Heading-back the tree also may 

 be a thinning process. The fruit-buds are borne some 

 distance below the tips of the shoots, however, and un- 

 less the heading-in process is somewhat severe, there is 

 little result- in thinning the fruit. 



Thinning the Fruit, There is very general neglect 

 in thinning the fruit. It should be a rule that no two 

 Peaches should stand closer on the same branch than 

 five or six inches. No work of the orchard pays better 

 than this thinning, either in the price which the remain- 

 ing produce brings in the market or in the vital energy 

 which is saved to the tree. Peach trees that are regu- 

 larly thinned should bear every year, barring injuries 

 from winter or spring frosts. Growers seem to forget 

 that this fruit must all be picked sooner or later, and 



1664. Crawford Peach (X 1-5) 



that the work is more easily done in June or July than 

 in September. The thinning should be delayed until 

 the fruit is the size of the end of one's thumb, for 

 by this time the "June drop" has occurred, and the 



