446 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



PEACH CULTURE. 



BY P. A. WAUGH, PROFESSOH OF HORTICULTURE, MASSACHUSETTS AGRI- 

 CULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Interest in peach culture has evidently increased very greatly in New 

 England during the last few years. In spite of unusually severe freezes 

 during winters of 1902-03 and 1903-04, there have been several good 

 crops gathered during the last five years. In most cases reasonable 

 profits have been made, and in some instances the returns have been 

 so large as to be fairly remarkable. 



There is every reason to believe that the peach business in New 

 England will continue to be an attractive commercial proposition. 

 The uncertainty of the winters is of course a drawback, but aside from 

 this the situation is altogether favorable. We have directly at hand 

 the finest market on this continent. The difficult problems of long- 

 distance shipment, refrigerator car service, icing charges, etc., which 

 confront the southern peach grower, are entirely eliminated from our 

 calculation. Not only can our fruit be put into market much more 

 cheaply and quickly, but on that account it can be presented to the 

 customers in much better condition. For all these reasons the net 

 prices realized by New England peach growers are bound to be very 

 much greater than those received by the peach growers of the south. 

 It thus seems altogether probable that the investment in commercial 

 peach growing in New England will be substantially increased during 

 the next few years. 



Peaches may be grown in all parts of Massachusetts. They may be 

 made commercially successful in the majority of towns in the State. 

 In the highest localities and in some of the towns along the coast 

 peach growing cannot be safely undertaken on a large scale. In every 

 locality it is advisable to plant peach trees only on land especially 

 suited to this crop. 



Soils and Exposures. 

 There is a general understanding that peaches should be planted 

 on a north or northeastern exposure ; that is, upon land sloping towards 

 the north or northeast. This rule rests upon the fact that land sloping 

 towards the south or southwest is necessarily warmer, and the trees 

 start into growth earher in the spring. It depends also on the further 



