NORFOLK SOCIETY. 315 



scarcely suited to any other product — with less risk of drought 

 than most other crops — that the contingencies of failure are not 

 much greater with us, than in the great peach-growing states, 

 we cannot conclude our report without recommending an in- 

 creased attention to this branch of cultivation. 



MARSHALL P. WILDER, Chairman. 



Luther Portej'''s Statement. 



My peach orchard consists of ninety-four trees ; seventeen 

 of them remain where the stones were planted. Thirty-eight 

 were set in the spring of 1848, and thirty-nine set in the spring 

 of 1849. They have all been trimmed or headed in, and the 

 dead wood cut out in the spring. 



I prefer to have them headed, or shortened in, as the fruit is 

 larger and more easily gathered, and the fruit not so easily 

 blown off by the wind. The soil is a sandy loam, situated on 

 the southern side of a hill. One half the ground has been 

 planted as a garden, with hay around the trees. The other 

 half has for the last two years been entirely covered with hay, 

 spread in March, when the ground was frozen. The buds are 

 thereby kept back, and are not so liable to be killed by the 

 cold in April and May. It keeps the weeds and grass down, 

 and the ground moist and light in the hot days of summer. I 

 also think it the best manure, when the hens have mixed it 

 with the soil, which they are sure to do, if they have access to 

 it. Some two weeks before my peaches are ripe, I shut my 

 hens off, and I then have a clean, soft bed for them to fall on. 

 In 1849, I put one half pail of scalding soap-suds on to each 

 tree, and let it run down the butt, into the soil.' Since that 

 time, I have not taken pains to heat it. 



To keep the borers off, I apply ashes two or three times 

 a year, and examine them very closely during the season, 

 taking care to keep the hay from the butt, so as not to encour- 

 age them around the root. 



My trees were one year from the bud when set. Last year 

 they produced about twenty bushels of large, handsome 

 peaches, the most of which sold for one dollar per bushel. This 

 year you will judge of the quantity. 



Stowghton, Sept.^ 1851. 



