150 THE CULTIVATION OF THE 



shoots, and of two inches in the short shoots, giving a 

 general average of three inches only for the growth of 

 wood of the previous season, that tree needs potash, 

 phosphoric acid and ammonia, extra culture and 

 worming, the middles well cut out, and all the bearing 

 wood cut back one-half. Also give the tree a moderate 

 dose of iron by the methods given in the chapter on 

 fertilization. This may save it and give a crop of good 

 fruit. 



Rule V. Examine every tree in your orchard as 

 soon after ploughing in the spring as possible, and apply 

 the rules as given. 



PLANS OF PEACH ORCHARDS. 



As I have said in the previous pages, Peach trees 

 on the Peninsula should be set from eighteen to twenty 

 feet apart, but if I was planting an apple-orchard, I 

 would put the apples forty feet apart, and plant a Peach 

 tree between each, and one in the middle of every four 

 apple trees. 



I have done this in Kent County, Maryland, and 

 the plan has given satisfaction. The first two years I 

 raised a crop of corn, and after that the peaches paid 

 until the apples commenced to bear, and now, thirteen 

 years since planting, both apples and peaches are bear- 

 ing good crops, and both are doing well. As to the 

 methods of planting peaches, such as planting them 



