THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 1 35 



a growth that will withstand cold and for this reason gravelly and stony 

 soils, since they hold heat well, make good peach-lands. So, too, a gravelly 

 subsoil seems to provide the proper root-environment for the peach-tree 

 and if this be present it matters little, so far as hardiness is concerned, 

 whether it be overlaid with sand, gravel, loam, a light clay or combinations 

 of these. 



Second. — The amount of moisture in the soil in the winter affects the 

 hardiness of the peach. Either extreme of moisture, excessive wetness or 

 excessive dryness, gives favorable conditions for winter-killing. A wet 

 soil freezes deeply and trees standing in it are sappy throughout the winter. 

 Cold, alternating with warm weather, or accompanied with dry winds, 

 causes excessive evaporation from trees and if the soil be so dry as not to 

 fiu-nish moisture to replace the water evaporated, winter-injviry ensues. 

 When twigs and buds shrivel in winter, whether from lack of water or lack 

 of maturity, winter-injury^ almost invariably follows. 



Third. — Fertilizers may have a helpful or a harmful effect as regards 

 hardiness of tree. Wlien fertilizers cause a heavy, rank, soft growth, they 

 undoubtedly make the trees more susceptible to winter-injury. On the 

 other hand, trees suffer as much or more from cold if underfed than if 

 overfed. Nothing is more certain than that vigorous growth in early 

 summer can be made of great service in counteracting cold and that half- 

 starved trees, or those which have been allowed to bear too heavily, suffer 

 most from freezing. 



Fourth. — Cover-crops protect trees from cold. Case after case can 

 be cited of orchards with cover-crops surviving a cold winter when 

 nearby orchards without the muffler of vegetation, leaves and snow were 

 killed. Possibly the cover-crop is the most effective treatment of the 

 peach-orchard to avoid winter-killing, acting as a cover to protect the 

 roots from cold, causing the trees to ripen their wood quickly and thoroughly 

 and assisting in regulating the supply of moisture. 



Fifth.— Low-headed trees suffer less in both trunks and branches from 

 winter-injury than high-headed trees. Buds, however, often survive on 

 the higher branches and not on the lower ones. The low-headed trees are 

 less injured probably because the wood loses less moisture by the evapora- 

 tion from the effects of winds than do high-headed trees; because the trunk 

 at least is better protected from the sun and hence sviffers less from sun- 

 scald, one of the effects of freezing and thawing; and because, for some 



