PEACH 



to introduce into general practice the most improved 

 methods df culture. 



The Peach business on the whole has been profitable 

 to Delaware. The days, however, when fortunes were 

 made from a single crop, when a farm was bought or a 

 large mortgage lifted in a single season, have passed. 

 Once those times were known in Delaware, but that was 

 before Georgia, the Carolinas, Arkansas, the Ozark 

 region of Missouri, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, 

 or Connecticut had entered into the business on their 

 present scale. Peach - growing is still attractive to 

 planters in Delaware. More money can be made in it 

 than in general farm crops. More attention is being 

 given to the selection of varieties, to the care and plant- 

 ing of orchards, the picking and handling of the crop, 

 and, last but not least, to the marketing of the fruit, with 

 as many middlemen eliminated as modern business 

 methods will allow. 



Peaches Carried by Pennsylvania Railroad, Delaware 

 Division. 



PEACH 



1241 



The figures for 1900 include the peninsula, but not 

 two small side lines. It is estimated that 1,000,000 

 baskets were carried by other means and that 500,000 

 were used by the canneries. Probably two-thirds of the 

 Peaches included in this estimate were grown in Dela- 

 ware. CHARLES WEIGHT. 



THE PEACH IN CALIFORNIA. There is no distinct 

 Peach belt in California, but the Peach is grown suc- 

 cessfully over a wide area and under varied climatic 

 conditions. Tourists generally talk of "the California 

 climate " as if it were one thing, but a glance at the 

 article California in this work will give the reader 

 some idea of the immense variety of climate and crop 

 conditions. 



A narrow strip along the coast is too cold for the 

 best quality of Peaches, even where frost is unknown. 

 A very few miles inland and up to an elevation of 2,000- 

 3,000 ft., the Peach is at home when the grower has 

 done his part. In a large part of the state the best 

 results are attained only by irrigation. In some places no 

 rain falls from the time the trees bloom until the latest 

 fruit is gathered. There are some localities, however, 

 where the water in the soil is close enough to the sur- 

 face to give an ideal supply of moisture without irriga- 

 tion. It is an odd fact that Peaches in the central part 

 of the state ripen before those in the southern part. 

 The time of ripening in the extreme southern part does 

 not vary much from that of southern Ohio, while 500 

 miles north in the Sacramento valley they ripen two to 

 four weeks earlier. In some of the warm foothill regions, 

 Alexander begins to ripen the latter part of May. 



All kinds of care are given orchards, as one will find 

 in any state, but on the whole orchards probably re- 

 ceive much more attention in California than elsewhere 

 in the United States. The successful orchardist has 

 learned well the lesson that there is room at the top. 

 The less careful have learned that there is little money 

 in the orchard business. 



In the preparation of the soil, deep plowing is all 

 that is usually done. California soils are generally 

 about the same all the way down, but vary much in 

 depth. Good Peach orchard soils should be not less 

 than 4 feet deep, and a greater depth is desirable. 



The trees are usually planted 20-25 feet apart. In the 

 southern part of the state the best practice is to grow 

 nothing between the trees, even the first year. The till- 

 age is thorough, deep and frequent. After February 1, 

 tillage is given in two directions after each rain, care 

 being taken to complete the work before the soil can 



bake or get hard. This double cultivation is Kept \.\> at 

 least once a month after rains cease, which is n>uall\ in 

 March. Thorough surface tillage is practiced after each 

 Irrigation. Tillage may be much deeper without injury 

 in California than in most states, for the reason that 

 there is a much warmer subsoil which permits the roots 

 to go down deeply to reach the moisture necessary to 

 carry them over the long periods without rain or irriga- 

 tion. Orchards should be perfectly free of weeds from 

 March 1 to the end of the growing season. Clean til- 

 lage is not sufficient. The ground must be in fine tilth 

 from 4-6 inches deep and kept so all summer. 



Ihe low-headed tree has the preference. At planting, 

 the nursery tree is cut back to 12-18 inches. The first 

 six weeks after growth begins the trees are gone over 

 at least once a week to rub off all sprouts that are not 

 desired. Four or five are left to form the main branches ; 

 these should be as evenly distributed around the tree as 

 possible. Also they should be as far apart in a vertical 

 direction as possible, as two growths should not come 

 from one place. Three or 4 feet of new growth for each 

 branch the first year is considered fair. The first prun- 

 ing occurs the following winter. About three-fourths 

 of the season's growth is cut back and all small shoots 

 are taken off from what is left. This facilitates even 

 and better growth of the secondary branches that start 

 the second year. There should be 2-3 of these branches 

 from each primary branch, being careful to keep all 

 others rubbed off by at least weekly visits to the tree 

 for a month or more after growth begins. The second 

 winter's pruning consists in cutting back one-half to 

 three-fourths of the length of the main growths and 

 cutting out most of the small side shoots. A few are 

 left to bear some fruit the third year. Each fall or win- 

 ter at least one-half the length of the main growths is 

 cut back and a number of the remaining small bearing 

 shoots are taken out. If these bearing shoots have 

 plenty of fruit-buds near the base, it is best to cut off 

 one-half the length of these. If they have no fruit- 

 buds near the base (as they are not likely to have if the 

 tree is growing very fast) they are left whole. This 

 cutting back of the bearing shoots aids very much in 

 the thinning of the fruit. The best practice is to cut 

 out all shoots which fruited the previous season. They 

 nearly all die anyway. The tree looks much better 

 without them and is supposed to be more healthy. 

 Nothing short of severe pruning secures the best results 

 under ordinary circumstances. 



There is no single operation of more importance than 

 the thinning of the fruit, even after such thorough 

 pruning as above described. There are many methods 

 of thinning. The one that can be communicated the 

 easiest and possibly the best (because anyone can do 

 it) is to pull off all but two Peaches from each bearing 

 shoot. A dozen or more may be on the shoot, but they 

 must be taken off. The usual size of such shoots is 

 about an eighth of an inch in diameter. If they should 

 be about M inch in diameter, three or four Peaches are 

 left. The time to thin is when the Peaches are about 

 % inch in diameter. At this size they are likely to re- 

 main on the tree (the "May drop" being past), and if 

 thinning is promptly done the tree's waste of strength 

 will be small. Those who think this is severe thinning 

 shoxild remember that any fruit, both in bulk and 

 weight, is eight times as large as one that has only half 

 its diameter. The above method of pruning and thinning 

 saves the tree from breaking down. The fruit is all mar- 

 ketable. The tree makes a good growth and is in fine 

 condition for the succeeding crop. And, finally, it pays. 



The varieties planted in California are largely Foster 

 Early and Late Crawford, Muir and Sal way for free- 

 stones. The Orange and Lemon Clings, for clings, are 

 largely used by the canneries. Levi Cling is largely 

 planted in some of the foothill regions. There are 

 many other varieties planted in a small way. Some of 

 the newer kinds give promise of taking a place among 

 the regulars. A good variety of Peach for California 

 must have large fruits and plenty of them, which will 

 ship well and dry well. White Peaches are but little 

 used. The canneries are paying the best prices for good 

 yellow clings. 



Three or four irrigations, about a month apart, are 

 usually given. The furrow system is the prevalent one. 



