ms- 



NEW ENGLAND FAllx^lER. 



May 23, 1828. 



PEACfl TRJiES. 



{Concluded from page 339.) 



Mr Thomas Coulter, ot' Bedford county, Penn- 

 sylvania, givos the toUorting directions tor culti- 

 vating peach trees, which he has succeastully pur- 

 sued in Penrisylv .nia and Delaware, for 45 years. 

 See Trans. ^Imer. Phil. Soc. vul. v. 



'■ 'I'he principal causes of peach trees flying 

 whilst young, are the planting, transplanting and 

 pruning me same stoc/i ; wliich causes the stock 

 to be open and tender, and the bark of the tree 

 very rough: this roughness of the bark gives op- 

 portunities to insocls to lolge and b'-ecd in it; 

 nnd birds search after these insects, for their sup 

 pi»rl ; and with their sharp bills, wotind the slock 

 in many places : from which wound the sap of the 

 tree is drawn out, which congeals and never falls 

 to kill, or to render the tree useless in a few 

 years. To prevent which, transplant your peach- 

 trees, as young as possible, wiiere you mean them 

 to stand ; if, in the kernel, so much the better, be- 

 cause, in that case, there will be no chock of 

 growth, which always injures peach-trees. Plant 

 peach trees, Hj feet apart, both ways, e.\cept you 

 would wish to take your wagon through the or- 

 chard to carry the peaches away ; in that case, 

 give 24 feet distance to every fifth rovv, one vv-ay, 

 after transplanting. You may plough and harrow 

 amongst your peach-trees, for two years, paying 

 no regard to wounding or tearing them, so that 

 you do not lake tiieni up by the roots. In the 

 month of March or April, in the third year after 

 transplanting, cut them all off by the ground; 

 plough and harrow amongst them as before, tak- 

 ing special care not to wound or tear tliem in the 

 'smallest degree, letting all the sprouts or scions 

 ^row that will grow ; cut none away, supposing 

 si.x or more should come from the old stump ; the 

 young scion.-i will grow up to bearing trees on ac- 

 count of the roots being strong. Let no kind of 

 tieast-; into peach orchards, higs excepted, for fear 

 of wounding the trees ; as the least wound will 

 greatly injure the tree, by draining away that sub- 

 stance which is the life thereof; altuougli the tree 

 may live many years, the produce is not so great, 

 neither is the fruit so good. After the old slock 

 ■s cut away, the third year after transplanting, 

 the sprouts or scions will grow up, all round the 

 old stump, from four to si.x in number : no more 

 will come to maturity, than the old stump can sup- 

 port and nourish; the remainder will die before 

 ever they bear fruit. These may be cut away, 

 taking care not to wound any part of any stock, 

 or the bark. The sprouts growing all round the 

 old stump, when loaded witii fruit, will bend and 

 rest on the ground in every direction, without in- 

 juring any of thein, fur many years, all of them 

 being rooted in the ground, as though Ihey had 

 been planted. The stocks will remain tough, and 

 '.he bark smooth, for 20 years and upwards ; if 

 my of the sprouts or trees from the old «Lump 

 jhould happen to split off, or die, cut them away, 

 '.hey will bo supplied from the ground, by young 

 trees, so that you will have trees from the same 

 atump for 100 years, as I believe. I now have 

 trees 26, 20, 10, 5, and down to one year old, all 

 from the same stump. The young trees coni- 

 rag up, after any of the old trees split off or die, 

 ind are cut away, will bear fruit the second year; 

 iut this fruit will not ri|ion so easily as the fruit 

 on the old trees from the samostem. Three years 

 after the trees are cut off by tho ground, they will 

 ie sutiiciently *arge and knshv. to shade the 



ground so as to prevent grass of any kind fioin 

 matting or binding the surface, so as to injure the 

 trees ; therefore, ploughing is useless, as well as 

 injurious ; useless, because nothing can be raised, 

 in the orchard, by reason the trees will shade all 

 the ground, or nearly so ; injurious, because either 

 the roots, stock or branches will be wounded ; 

 neither is it necessary ever to manure peach- 

 trees, as manured trees will always produce less 

 and worse fruit, than trees that are not manured ; 

 although by manuring your peach-trees, they will 

 grow larger, and look greener and thicker in the 

 boughs, and cause a thicker shade, yet on them 

 will grow very little fruit, and that little will be 

 of a very bad kind, generally looking as green as 

 the leaves, even when ripe, and later than those 

 that never have been manured.* 



•' Peach trees never require a rich soil ; the poor- 

 er the soil the better tho fruit ; a middling soil 

 produces a more bountiful crop. 



" The highest ground, and the north side of 

 hills, is the best for peach tiees ; they keep back 

 vegetation, by v/hicli means the fruit is often pre- 

 served from being killed, by the late frosts in the 

 month of April, in the Pennsylvania latitude. I 

 have made these observations from actual experi- 

 ence. •" 



" A gentleman from Monongahela county, in 

 Virginia, called at my house, and asked me who 

 instructed me to cultivate peach-trees ; I told hiin 

 that observation and experience were my teach- 

 ers. The gentleman observed that Col. Luther 

 Martin, in the lower parts of Maryland, and anoth- 

 er gentleman near the same place, whose name 

 he could not recollect, were pursuing the same 

 plan advantageously." 



The propriety of transplanting trees, wo have 

 before e.xplained. 



The practice of Mr Coulter, in cutting down the 

 trees is highly rational : they are thus forced to 

 spend their vigor upon their bodies and roots, in- 

 stead of shooting up into the air with thin barks, 

 which are easily penetrated by the fly. 



The best kind of peaches is said to be produced 

 from inoculation ; and upon an apricot stoclc, as 

 they are not liable to be injured by the fly ; and 

 that peach-trees thus produced, grow larger and 



rise higher, than when on the peach stock 



Grafting the peach upon a plum stock, has also 

 been practised, with a view of resisting the attack 

 of the fly ; but this operation must be performed 

 under ground, otherwise an unsightly knob will 

 bo the consequence of the- peach tree overgrow- 

 ing the plum stock, and endanger the breaking, off 

 of tho tree, at the place of junction. 



The directions given by Forsyth, with respect 

 to wall peach trees, may be applied to our stand- 

 ard trees, viz. " To pinch off all the strong shoots 

 in June, the lirst year the tree bears ; which will 

 iTiake theiD throw out side shoots ; these, if net 

 laid too thick, will make fine bearing wood for the 

 succeeding year. If the strong shoots be suffered 

 to grow to their full length, they will bo large 

 and spongy, and will neither produce good fruit 

 nor good wood for the following year. Sometimes 

 weakly trees are covered with blossoms, but if too 



' This assertion it! directly contrary to the experience of a 

 gcnllemaii iu New .lersey, wlio has remarkably line peaches, 

 regularly manures his trees every year, and asserts thai the 

 speedy decay of common peach Irees Is owing chiefly lo a neg- 

 lect oi'tlie practice. He even said experience convinced him it 

 was owing to ihe-same circunisloncc, ihai pcjicli atones did not, 

 in g«ucra!, produce ftiiit like llic original tree.' 



much fruit be suffered to remain on them, they 

 will be weakened so much that they will never 

 recover. In tfiat case, I would recommend pick- 

 ing off the greater part of the fruit to let the tree 

 recover its strength. When trees in this state 

 are pruned, never prune at a single flower hud ; as 

 tne shoot will be either entirely killed, or at least 

 die, as far as the next wood-bud. 



" 1 have often topped the strong shoots twice in 

 the course of a summer, before they produce the 

 fine kind, bearing wood. These strong shoots e.x- 

 hausl the tree, and never produce good wood, 

 when neglected to be topped. I would recom- 

 mend to cut out such shoots when the trees are 

 pruned in the spring, and to leave only the bear- 

 ing wood, which may be known by two small 

 leaves where the flower buds will be in the fol- 

 lowing year ; (the strong shoots having only one 

 leaf-bud at each eye) and to pick off ill sidc-shoots 

 near the tops of the branches, as soon as they can 

 be laid hold of" 



Peaches yield, on di-tillation, a highly flavored, 

 but unwholesome spirit, which is much prized. — 

 one or two spoonsfull, added to a bowl of commou 

 punch, greatly improves it. Indeed it is diflicult 

 to find a more agreeaDle assuager of thirst, than 

 such a combination. 



The flowers of peaches emit an agreeable, fra- 

 grant odour, and have a bitterish taste. If distil- 

 led in a water bath, they yield a whitish liquor, 

 about one-si.\th part of their weight, and which 

 communicates to a large quantity of othei liquids 

 a flavor similar to that of the kernels themselves. 

 An infusion of half an ounce of the fresh gathered 

 flowers, or a drachm of them when dried, in half 

 a pint of boiling water, sv.f-etened with a little, 

 sugar, is said to be an useful laxative and vermi- 

 fuge for children. — Domestic Encyclopedia. 



Breeding of Maggots, &,-c. — Dr Mitchell states 

 in the N. Y. Farmer, that the rearing and multi- 

 plication of maggots, for profit, is a regular busi- 

 ness at the horse butcheries, near Paris. They 

 are sold by measure, for feeding birds and poultry, 

 and for fish bait. The man who superintends the 

 maggot-breeding, pays to the owners of the 

 slaughter house 30 francs ($5,03) per week, for 

 leave to carry on the trade ! 



fVool. — Mr Rapp, of Economy, Western Penn- 

 sylvania, offers for wool well washed on the sheep, 

 as follows : — full blood merino 40 cents ; seven 

 eighths 35 ; three fourths 31; one half 27; common 

 wool 22. It is doubtful whether the wool grow- 

 ers of New England will get higher prices than 

 these the present season. — Havip. Gazette. 



The commissioners, who v\'ere appointed to in- 

 quire into the stale of the Paris horse butcheries, 

 reported that they had seen the flesh of fat horses 

 so carefully ranged along the walls, that it would 

 not have dishonored the best butcher's stalls ; and 

 they believed that much of it was consumed by 

 the poor of the metropolis. They say that no 

 doubt is entertained of its palatableness, heallhi- 

 niiss, and nutritious qualities I — Ibid. 



The editor of the Baltimore of Gazette acknowl- 

 edges having received a sample of Libeiian Coffee. 

 It is pronounced lo be not inferior to Mocha cof- 

 fee, aud superior to Java. It was gathered by the 

 natives, and sold by the colonists at Liberia, for 

 about three conts a pound. It is stated that coffee 

 trees grow spontaneously at Liberia .; — and that 

 there are extensive forests of it there. 



