iThe Canadian Horticulturi^ 



XXXI 



JULY, 1908 



No. 7 



Peach Culture, Thinning and Marketing' 



FTER the land is given over en- 

 tirely to the peach trees, regular 

 cultivation should commence as 

 n as possible in the spring, either by 

 orough plowing or by disking and 

 'OSS disking until the soil is well pul- 

 rized. The cultivation that follows 

 is will be of the nature of surface work 

 kill the small weeds, maintain the dust 

 Ich, and conserve moisture. Nothing 

 can take the place of clean tillage in the 

 orchard during the early part of the 

 ^^eason. 



^K COVER CROPS 



^^ft Practically all soils may be materially 

 Hnproved by the judicious use of cover 

 ['"trops. The crops, whether of rye, vetch, 

 ' Canada peas or even corn, should be 

 sown about the middle of August and 



I permitted to grow or at least remain 

 ■ the surface until early in May when 

 ■ can be plowed under to add food and 

 ■mus to the soil. By sowing as late 

 ■ the middle of August no injury is 

 Bne to the growing fruit crop, while 

 Tie growth of the trees is checked and 

 the wood is hardened ' off before the 

 winter comes. 



THINNING THE FRUIT 



One of the hardest tasks for the ama- 

 ii;ur to perform is to thin sufliciently. It 

 seems like a great waste of energy to 

 grow a crop of young peaches to the 

 size of small prunes and to then deliber- 

 ately pull off from one-half to three- 

 fourths of them. However, he soon 

 Isarns that peaches, four to six inches 

 bjirt, are close enough for the best re- 

 llts. 

 IWe must realize that a tree can pro- 

 uce a certain amount of first class fruit 

 and, if more be permitted to grow, the 

 size of the fruit must be reduced. It does 

 not cost any more to pick the fruit at one 

 me than it does at another. It is much 

 easier to handle, pack and market a few 

 large nice peaches than it is to deal with 

 an equal weight of poor, small, hard, un- 

 saleable fruits. 



Western horticulture is frequently 

 illed the new horticulture and truly is 



•lOxtractH from a paper read at the last coii- 

 "tition of the Northwest Fruit OrowcrH' AHHo<M'a. 

 I'ln held at Vancouver. 



Prof. W. S. Thornbcr, Pullman, Washington 



this the case it for no other reason than 

 the way we harvest and market our 

 crops. The barrel, the sack and the 

 basket are fairly things of the past and 

 now our crop goes to the market in neat 

 attractive, beautifully labelled boxes and 

 crates of the most convenient size pos- 

 sible for the grower, commission man and 

 consumer to handle. 



HARVESTING AND MARKETING 



Probably no crop grown requires more 

 care than the harvesting and marketing 

 of peaches. The least scratch or bruise 

 soon shows up to the disadvantage of 

 the crop. Means should be provided to 

 eliminate as far as possible all these de- 

 fects. The picking should be done un- 

 der a competent orchard boss whose duty 



Wonderful Progress 



I am much pleased with the 

 appearance of The Canadian Hor- 

 Tici'LTURisT and with the char- 

 acter of its articles. It has made 

 wonderful progress during the 

 past two years both in jnatter and 

 arrangement. Although well ac- 

 quainted with the publication from 

 its inception, I have never seen it 

 so satisfactory as now. — B. Gott, 

 Strathroy, Ont. 



it is not only to direct the work but also 

 to see that the fruit is not allowed to 

 drop into the picking receptacles, but 

 rather is gently placed in as one would 

 handle eggs. 



The picking receptacles may be buck- 

 ets or baskets ; however, most of our 

 growers prefer a burlap lined basket that 

 will hold from twenty to twenty-five 

 pounds. The fruit is picked in these 

 baskets, loaded on flat-topped heavy 

 spring wagons and hauled directly to 

 the packing house where it is carefully 

 graded, wrapped in paper, placed in 

 boxes which hold about twenty pounds, 

 and at once nailed up ready for shipment. 

 After the fruit leaves the tree the sooner 

 it is packed for market the better con- 

 dition it will be in. A few growers 



ui 



grade their peaches into three grades 

 known as "Fancy," "A" and "B." 

 The boxes of "Fancy" contain from 44 

 to 64 fruits-, while "A's" run from 64 

 to 80, and "B's" from 80 to 90 fruits. 

 Of course this requires time and skill but 

 this i.s the .system that is making our 

 western fruit sell. 



One of the most important factors for 

 the selling of fruit is the local union or 

 association. Every community that rais- 

 es fruit of any kind should organize and 

 procure these benefits. 



The cannery is another important ad- 

 junct. It is the only reasonable way to 

 economically handle the over-ripe and 

 poor fruit, and while it may be apart 

 from the association, yet it need not be 

 and usually it is best not, providing that 

 perfect harmony exists between the man- 

 agement of the two concerns. 



INSECT PESTS AND PLANT DISEASES 



The insect pests and plant diseases 

 that are bothering our peaches are not 

 numerous. They should be carefully 

 guarded against, however, in order to 

 avoid serious injury from their attacks 

 before curative means are used upon 

 them. 



Up to the present time, I have never 

 seen or heard of a case of the much 

 dreaded "peach yellows" in the west; 

 however, it may exist in an unnoticeable 

 condition in some of our large districts, 

 simply waiting for proper conditions to 

 develop it. The greatest possible care 

 should be exercised to keep this, as well 

 as other injurious pests, from once se- 

 curing a foothold in our orchards. Two 

 of our chief pests are as follows : 



PEACH LEAF CURL 



The peach leaf curl is practically out 

 only well distributed, seripus plant dis- 

 ease of the peach and while its attacks 

 are more or less serious on some varie- 

 ties than others, yet it works severe in- 

 jury to all sorts. This disease is too 

 common to need description and may be 

 readily kept under control by a thorough 

 spraying in March with a standard so- 

 lution of Bordeaux or sulphur-lime wash. 



The peach tree borer is another trou- 

 blesome in.sect that we must be constant- 



