no THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



will enable you to judge just how far our methods can be 

 tollowed in your several orchards. 



Soil and Location. — While a good loam is our ideal soil, 

 we have good orchards on all kinds of soils. We do demand, 

 hcnvever, that all peach lands shall be well drained, both as to 

 air and water, and, as moderate ele\-ations tend to furnish both 

 a good air circulation and water drainage, high or elevated 

 lands are preferred. 



Preparation of Soil. — The ground to receive our baby trees 

 should be well stocked in advance with suitable food to give 

 them a vigorous start. Plowing under clover or other nitro- 

 genous crops, before setting the trees, furnishes humus, wdiich 

 is especiallv valuable in making the ground spongy — capable 

 of holding large (juantities of water. 



Tarictics. — The choice of varieties is largely a local mat- 

 ter. Select those which do best in your locality and which 

 supplv the demand of your market. Hie large plantings of 

 peach in Georgia, Texas, etc., have caused us to discard the 

 early varieties, especially the clings. In our section the besi 

 commercial orchards include such varieties as the Yellow St. 

 John, Engles Mammoth, Conklin, Fitzgerald, Elberta, Kala- 

 mazoo. New Prolific. Smock and Salway — all yellow varieties. 

 The Champion is one of the leading white kinds, but our mar- 

 ket calls for large, high colored, yellow peaches. Such kinds 

 as the Barnard and Gold Drop are excellent in quality, but are 

 too small, under ordinary cultivation, to be wanted by our 

 buyers. Despite its poor qualit}-. the Elberta is the leading 

 market peach and is most largely grown. 



. Cultivation. — Our main object being quick and large cash 

 returns, we d(~) our utmost to force a strong, sound growth 

 from the start, l)y intensive cultivation. The first two years 

 we generalh' practice the growing of corn between the trees. 

 The loss of fertility, occasioned by the feeding of the corn, is 

 l)alanced by the value of the corn as a shade to the trees from 

 the scalding rays of the sun. The trees are headed low — not 

 over 18 inches from the ground — and tliis calls for special 

 tools in cultivating. The extension disc harrow and the exten- 

 'sion fine tooth drag are the best tools we have in our orchard, 

 after the second vear, when the trees are given the whole of the 



