454 BOAKD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



of the trees after a heavy freeze gives best results. This should be fol- 

 lowed by thorough cultivation, and the application of a small amount 

 of nitrate of soda. Trees once severely frozen, however, will never 

 fully recover. 



The curculio is often spoken of as a serious pest in peach orchards. 

 Its ravages are easily overestimated. As a matter of fact, this insect 

 makes little impress on any good commercial crop. Those fruits which 

 are punctured come off in the June drop or are removed at thinning 

 time. The percentage of otherwise good peaches lost from this insect 

 is usually so small as to be entirely negligible. Where the insects are 

 really bad, it may be worth while to jar them off the trees and burn 

 them. 



In some years, especially when the crop is heavy and the ripening 

 season is warm and moist, there is serious loss from ripe rot of the 

 fruit. After this trouble makes its appearance there is very little to 

 do except to pick the fruit early, and get it into a cool room as quickly 

 as possible. The rot can be to some extent prevented with thorough 

 spraying with Bordeaux mixture. For this purpose, spraying should 

 be done early, even before the buds open in the spring. 



The peach yellows is still with us, although there is less said about 

 it than formerly. The best and safest practice is to dig up and burn 

 immediately every tree which is found infested with this disease. 



The San Jose scale is unquestionably the most serious pest which 

 the peach grower has to deal with. This vile insect seems to have a 

 special preference for peach trees. Various methods of fighting the 

 San Jose scale have been tested and widely discussed during the last 

 few years. It would require an entire bulletin to set this matter forth 

 in any detail. It may suffice for the present to say that the hme- 

 sulphur spray has been found altogether the most efficient remedy 

 under New England conditions thus far. 



Handling the Crop. 

 There are all sorts of ways of selling peaches. In our experience, the 

 package in which the fruit is sold makes a great difference in the price. 

 For fancy, especially early, varieties, we find a two-quart basket with 

 bale the most successful. To some extent we have sold peaches locally 

 in the four-quart till-baskets, such as are shipped six in a crate from 

 Georgia. As a rule, this four-quart basket does not give the best 

 satisfaction in local markets. For shipping, especially to considerable 

 distances, the four-quart basket packed six in a crate is very satis- 

 factory. For local markets and short shipments undoubtedly the 

 favorite basket is the half-bushel Jersey form. As a rule, our markets 

 prefer the real half-bushel basket, holding sixteen quarts; although in 

 some towns the short basket, holding fourteen quarts, sells equally 

 well. It is important to secure a good supply of clean, well-made 



