150 FRUIT-GROWING 



Spring injury is frequently just as much to 

 be feared as the cold of winter. In fact the 

 crop is sometimes lost in sections where the 

 thermometer seldom goes to freezing during 

 the whole winter. The Georgia peach crop has 

 been wiped out by a spring frost after having 

 passed through a winter of extreme mildness. 



Aside from the climate the only other limit- 

 ing factor in peach-growing is the soil, for not 

 all soils are adapted to this fruit. Like all 

 fast growing trees it requires much fertility 

 and the moisture content must be nicely bal- 

 anced. Soils that are subject to extremes of 

 wet or dryness are not suited to the crop which 

 requires a steady supply of moisture during 

 the growing season. In the case of the apple a 

 slight deficiency in the matter of fertility does 

 not do any harm, but in the case of the peach we 

 should select land that would grow an ordi- 

 narily good corn crop. We are accustomed to 

 think of our good corn land as being low and 

 flat, extending along the river bottoms. In 

 such a case the quality of the soil might be all 

 right but the "lay of the land" would be all 

 wrong, for we must look to the hills and rolling 

 ground to provide frost drainage. Elevation 

 above sea level is of no particular importance, 

 but elevation above the surrounding country is 

 one of the prime essentials of success. In such 

 locations we can sometimes see a definite frost 



