212 POMOLOGY 



one year, and this was attributed to chance. Conversely, 

 tillage or the use of nitrogen fertilizers or manure commoaly 

 cause a profusion of foliage which shades the fruit and re- 

 duces coloring; it also delays maturity and hence may lessen 

 the red color of fruit. 



In other words, the development of color in fruit is largely 

 dependent on maturity and the free action of sunlight. If 

 fruits are bagged while green, they will not develop red color 

 unless the bag itself is translucent to the extent of letting 

 some light pass through when some proportionate color will 

 develop.^ Where fogs occur and the intensity of the light 

 is decreased, the color of the fruit is lower, and the converse 

 holds true. 



183. Fertilizing the peach. — It is not necessary to 

 consider separately the fertilization of tilled and untilled 

 peach orchards, since rarely is this fruit grown without cul- 

 tivation. The outstanding fact to be considered here is that, 

 unlike the cultivated apple orchard, the peach will usually 

 respond readily to proper fertilization, particularly after 

 the trees reach bearing age. 



Chemical data show that the peach is a heavy feeder and 

 removes large quantities of plant-food from the soil. It is 

 particularly striking that this fruit removes nitrogen and 

 potash in great excess over phosphorus. This fact is well 

 illustrated in Table LXVIII adapted from Alderman: ^ 



Since it has been shown that the peach uses large quan- 

 tities of the soil ingredients in comparison with most other 

 fruits, it might be anticipated that it should require rather 

 heavy fertilization for best results. That the growth of the 

 trees and yield of fruit are affected by proper fertilizing is 

 shown by the following condensed table of the results se- 

 cured by the West Virginia Experiment Station: 



1 Blake, M. A. Rept. Soc. Hort. Sci. 1913. 



2 W. Va. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 150. 1915. 



